


The Eighth Septenniel Grand Elkandu Magic Competition

by Serriya (Keolah)



Series: Harlequin Romance [5]
Category: Bolo - Keith Laumer, Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game), Rifts, Star Trek, Warhammer 40.000, Werewolf: The Apocalypse
Genre: Elves, Games, Humanoid Animals, Humor, Kitsune, Magic, Multi, Olympics, Original Universe, Shapeshifting, Silly, Too Many Crossovers, Too Many Pop Culture References
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-04-30
Updated: 2006-05-11
Packaged: 2017-11-14 22:24:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 51,956
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/520141
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Keolah/pseuds/Serriya
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The last Elkandu Olympics sees interruptions from the Laughing God, a shapeshifting giant tank, a Kitsune, some guy in a chicken suit, a talking rabbit, a dragon dressed like Doctor Who, and more.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Two Eldar and a Bolo Walk Into the Stadium

The posters advertising the competition coming up were already starting to pepper themselves randomly around Torn Elkandu and Lezaria months in advance, and a building in which people could sign up for events in advance was set up in Torn Elkandu. But as the date approached, the fliers began to appear all over the damned place, even spilling off randomly into neighboring universes.

The past bit of time had been interesting for sure, Melaran mused, performing a sensor sweep across the most recent sector they'd worked on clearing the Ork menace out of. Between the three of them, the threat had been utterly still and quiet recently... nearly time to move on, he thought, especially before Tarna got a twitch to hop off on the next crazy tangent and drag them all along with it.

He turned the ship on a downward angle, moving to land near the overwhelming bulk of the tank that had accompanied them from the last insane port of call. Little surprise that the Eldest was as flaky as the rest of the Eldar-blood gods, he smirked as he landed, they'd found fairly early on when the fighting was more intense that the 'thrice only' limitation had been smoke and mirrors. Oh well, it was good for her to see the human side.

"What is the magic competition of Torn Elkandu?" Vicky broadcast.

Melaran looked in Tarna's direction in question, then asked, "Uhh, what brought that up?"

"An advertisement was blown by the wind and caught at the base of my number four turret," Vicky replied, "I examined it when removing the debris."

Tarna about jumped out of her skin in glee and said, "The competition? When? He finally set a date?" She hopped around excitedly.

Melaran looked at Tarna with a hint of alarm and foreboding at the excitement she replied with, but Vicky responded readily to the question and related the date and all relevant details while puzzling at the end rather pointedly as to what precisely it meant...

Tarna explained, "The competition is the awesomest thing that only happens every seven years, where people from all over gather to attempt to blow each other to pieces in a messy manner then get divinely resurrected again and then do it all over again. It generally goes on for a couple weeks and the winners in each event get wishes they generally don't actually bother spending anyway."

"How fascinating," Vicky replied, honestly intrigued by the concept of bloodless and no consequence warfare on a grand scale. "A version of wargames, then, with the energy manipulation commonly found here as the weapon of choice."

Melaran narrowed his eyes at Tarna and smirked. "I know that look. That's the 'oh goodie, let's gogogo!' look, the one that doesn't think twice before leaping right in the middle of things. Tell me I'm wrong." He knew already that he was outnumbered and outmaneuvered, the interest on the part of their companion nearly dooming it from the start. Argh.

"Hey, at least in this case, it's perfectly safe," Tarna said. "Shazmar always resurrects the loser immediately after a match in perfect health! There's nothing to lose! Well, aside from a little pain and suffering. Well, not all the events involve fighting, either, for that matter. There's some that just involve precision teleportation of small objects across a room, et cetera."

"Shazmar, I should have known."

Melaran smirked and chuckled, climbing out of the ship and walking over toward the Bolo to look for this flyer, only to find an errant breeze sending it turning and curling down to slap him in the face. He muttered something beneath his breath about crazy gods, though more in amused exasperation than anything else, and removed it to return and deliver it to Tarna.

"Your invitation, m'lady," he remarked dryly.

Tarna giggled and snatched it up and looked it over. "Well, we've about cleaned up here. What do you say we head over and sign up, eh? It'll be fun!"

Vicky returned to human form, stepping precisely to retrieve the flyer that had drawn her attention and taking a look at it as she heads in the direction of the ship. The human concept of 'fun' was a truly odd idea, but the appeal of certain aspects to it by the definition she'd already assigned were well within the parameters of her own entertainment ideals.

"Oh yes," Vicky agreed, "The experience should prove fascinating."

Melaran chuckled, looking over at Vicky. "When Shazmar's involved, 'fascinating' isn't the word for it. But..." He turned and bowed to Tarna, "As m'lady commands, so shall it be."

Tarna giggled and reached over to tickle him. "To Torn Elkandu, then!" She hopped cheerfully back toward the ship to get moving already.

Vicky climbed in, looking forward to the prospect and remaining alert to the nuances of human interaction among the two who still puzzled her to a great degree. Perhaps seeing a broader sampling would provide additional data to analyze and set to the task of understanding the patterns associated with this universe more readily.

Melaran chuckled and sighed, pausing on entry to caress the curve of Tarna's cheek fondly, then turning to the pilot's chair. "To Torn Elkandu," he replied in affirmation, "Hopefully without the storms to sidetrack us this time."

Indeed, the trip went without any incident and they sped across the calm Ethereal in mere hours to their destination. Torn Elkandu was bustling today with the news of the competition, the landing platform active with ships and the Nexus flaring every few minutes. Oddly the landing platform appeared to have grown larger than last they were here.

Nothing which involved Shazmar could surprise Melaran by this point, any more than the 'games' which Bob was wont to play. He did make certain that the ship is secured upon their exit, however, the greater crowds sure to attract more unsavory sorts than usual.

The signup building, with its blinking neon sign, was not difficult to spot from there, conveniently located between the landing area and the Nexus. Tarna grinned and went to head over that way, wending her way through the crowds.

A centaur with a green mohawk and a leather jacket handed Vicky a pamphlet that said, "Join the Torn Elkandu D&D Club!" Vicky blinked at the creature a moment, apparently something from the ancient human mythological texts... with a twist. She examined the pamphlet curiously as she followed in Tarna's wake. Melaran, having been here before, wasn't quite so wide-eyed as the first time, though he mused anew upon the nature of the flickering Nexus. He could at least see the appeal to Tarna, the vibrancy of life seeming a pale reflection of her own.

Inside the building, there were large signs over various booths, proclaiming each of the events and allowing signup for them. There were competitions for every conceivable talent, and then some, as well as free-for-alls and more unusual events.

Melaran just shook his head in amusement, shepherding Vicky along as she alternated between studying the pamphlet and analyzing the crowds and booths around her. He didn't really have a vested interest in this competition, other than Tarna wanting to compete and clearly looking forward to it with great anticipation... the bright cheerfulness was reward enough for sufferance, he gladly admitted.

There was a sign on one wall that listed the rules of the competition. Which seemed to involve no non-magical nuclear or biological weapons. That brought him a momentary chuckle, wondering whether that applied to an alien shapeshifting machine which would likely make a far greater impact than conventional nuclear devices. He decided not to comment on the thought, though, not wanting to encourage speculation or action in that direction.

Whether or not Vicky would fit inside the arena as such was probably not much a question... for some reason a dragon was inside this building standing over toward the Fire event booth and signing up for it. The strange thing was that the ceiling didn't seem any higher than normal upon walking in, and yet the dragon didn't seem to have any trouble standing around in here, in spite of the fact that it was obviously ten times as tall as most of the humans in here.

Melaran lost sight of Vicky as she wandered off into the crowd, but he had no real worry for her at the moment beyond what she might encounter to find utterly baffling. He remembered his own goggling disbelief at some of the creatures he'd first seen, and supposed he had the plethora of gods they'd encountered recently to 'thank' for the new blase. Continuing after Tarna, he merely shook his head.

Tarna headed over confidently toward the Dream Magic booth. There was a display screen on the wall listing the names and species of each of those already signed up for this event.

"Hmm," Tarna murmured. "Soli's not competing this time around, or hasn't signed up yet... that means I might have a good chance of winning."

She placed her hand on the touchpad and the machine dinged, and her name appeared on the list. Oddly enough, it listed her species as "Were-Eldar" for some reason. She blinked a bit at that and sniggers softly.

"Soli?" Melaran inquired lightly.

He cast an eye over the crowd and spotted Vicky again, the woman apparently drawn over in curiosity toward the towering dragon. Were she Eldar or human, he might suspect some sort of mythological fascination, but he chuckled at the thought of her approaching the creature to ask about the apparent physical anomaly evident in his presence. The Gods were certainly mirthful of late, he mused.

"Soliaron, one of the best dreamwalkers alive that I know of," Tarna said. "Maybe he's just upset about Theryn's death... I don't know." The dragon likewise signed up for the Fire event and turned around and looks down at the creature looking at him so intently.

"Ah, so competition not to be found in your favored event, eh?" Melaran chuckled. "Does that make you glad, or obscurely disappointed that you won't be able to test your hand against them?"

Vicky, contrary to Melaran's assumption, was captivated by the creature on another level entirely. Throughout history there had been tales of the magnificent creatures as well as countless depictions both fanciful and sometimes bloody. She was not intimidated by his bulk, her own mindset still holding well onto her own capabilities as needed, and offered a polite nod and awkward smile.

"My apologies," Vicky told the dragon. "I did not intend to stare." The dragon just chuckled deeply and pats her on the head with a large clawed hand.

Tarna shrugged and said, "There's always surprises. One time, this unicorn nobody had ever heard of randomly won the Dream event." Tarna headed down the row and looked to the other events available.

Melaran chuckled. "Ever surprises abound at these competitions, I'm sure. I doubt that their sponsor would have it any other way... wouldn't want them to be boring, after all." He glanced aside and raised a brow as Vicky made a hasty departure, looking quietly embarrassed as she looked around and then, spotting them, headed in their direction.

Tarna waved to her cheerfully and glanced over at the dragon who proceeded to head out the door, space seeming to warp in his vicinity for a moment as the door apparently had no trouble admitting his bulk.

"So, anything look interesting?" Tarna said with a faint smirk.

"I believe I shall leave the untold pain and suffering to you, m'lady," Melaran replied dryly, "I've certainly been shot at and shot up enough in the last little bit to last me for a while."

Vicky settled silently back into their orbit, blinking in confusion at the strange warmth she felt at her cheeks that marked the blush.

Tarna snickered softly. "Not to worry, there's lots to see and do and _watching_ the events is a great part of it too. What about you?" she asked Vicky.

"What do you mean?" Vicky replied with honest confusion, "The events I have seen displayed refer to abilities which are not within my operating parameters."

Melaran raised a brow at this and glanced aside to Tarna with amusement, the hybrid machine clearly not recognizing elements of what she was capable of as applying to the events at hand.

Tarna cleared her throat a bit and said, "I don't really think that's quite the case." She quietly explained precisely _what_ Mind and Seeking meant.

"Oh," Vicky replied, the abilities she'd been constructed with running along specified paths and occasionally-inventive sidetracks, she hadn't really considered them as anything beyond normal... at least for a Bolo of her class. "What would you suggest, then?" she asked, the idea clearly of some interest, a fascinating possibility to further her study of the biological element.

"Hmm, I wonder who is competing in the Mind Free-For-All," Tarna pondered. "Or Seeking perhaps... Seeking's hardly the most aggressive talent, so that event usually means the participants use weapons."

"I have no experience with weapons beyond what I was created with," Vicky replied, "though the theories and practices involved in their use and the various tactics from the Roman legionnaires onward are readily accessible in memory. I would suspect that my fully combat capable form would be unsuited to these competitions."

Tarna gave a grin and said, "You'd be surprised. That dragon? That sort of thing wasn't what _he_ was doing, but the properties of the buildings in Torn Elkandu. The Stadium works the same way."

"That would hardly be honorable," Vicky replied, "An interesting exercise, perhaps, but not within the protocols of fair play. I would not inflict the devastation inherent to my normal abilities in any arena other than that facing an Enemy worthy of destruction."

That made Melaran look at her thoughtfully, wondering whether that was something her creators built in or something she'd developed on her own. Interesting.

"Heh, don't worry," Tarna assured her. "It's just a game, nobody actually gets hurt. Sides, these are Elkandu we're talking about. The sort of people who sign up for this are the ones who could level entire planets." She looked over to the Mind Free-For-All list and said, "Ooh, looks like Jami's coming, too." She proceeded to go into a lengthy description of who Jami was and the sort of horrible things he tended to do.

Melaran's expression darkened at that, his own interest and a hint of a murderous streak piquing at the revelation and only growing with the continued explanation of the foul creature. Vicky listened intently, her own brow furrowing at the extensive list of the foul exploits pursued by the being in question and testing the range of her discretionary systems at it. What a foul and unpleasant being, worthy of no less.

"I think that would prove an interesting event," Vicky said suddenly as Tarna finished, stepping on Melaran's inclination to leap out to do so and drawing a speculative look and then a broad grin from him.

"Oh yes," he nearly hissed, "I think that would be a grand thing indeed."

Tarna agreed, glancing off down the rows again and said, "Hmm, there's also teams and pairs events..."

Melaran was gleefully anticipating the event they'd just spoken of, but shook himself from the vindictive thought patterns to look at Tarna questioningly at first, then adding a grin. "Is that a hint, m'lady?" he asked teasingly, the competition perhaps not something he would normally even consider but knowing he'd succumb were she to ask it of him. That was going to get him into even greater trouble eventually, he knew.

Vicky looked around for a moment, then walked purposefully off in search of the sign-up booth for the Mind free-for-all. She wasn't certain that she could bring herself to annihilate any of the other contenders, but removing the one who'd been mentioned even briefly would be well within her programming. The free-for-alls were, at least, one-shot events, unlike the one-on-one events which paired off competitors against one another.

Tarna chuckled softly and said, "The teams and pairs events usually draw fewer good teams because most Elkandu don't like to work together. Hasn't been a good team since Dante and Nalash..."

"You know I can deny you nothing," Melaran said quietly, shaking his head in self-amusement. "If you wish to enroll in such an event, then surely it shall be done. I think we could manage a few things, even if I am still working out the kinks in what I can do."

The only thing that worried him in that was if she was threatened, promise of safety be damned, he might well cross the threshold of fury in her defense.

Vicky found the booth in question and registered after taking a moment to analyze the proper forms and protocols.

Tarna chuckled softly and said, "Relax, there's nothing to worry about... in the arena at least. Considering some of the crap that's happened at previous competitions, probably safer in there than outside... one time somebody conjured a swarm of bees in the stadium... then somebody conjured some birds to eat them... then somebody else conjured falcons to eat the little birds..."

"This is going to be stranger than usual, isn't it?" Melaran asked, smirking. "Oh well, at least I can expect to be pieced back together after the fact, and maybe bribing Shazmar with some sugar beforehand would be a good idea." Well, he'd been planning on something like that regardless, just as a gift to the strange little god, but it sounded more amusing that way.

Vicky returned, successful, and settled into watchful silence. One could just imagine what the booth for the Mind Free-For-All event would have recorded as to Vicky's 'race'.

Tarna chuckled softly and said, "Certainly. Don't worry about it, it's very quick and relatively painless. One minute you're getting ripped inside out by telekinetics, the next minute you're perfectly fine in the recovery room."

"My, aren't we just a bundle of reassuring brightness and light?" Melaran teased, then chuckled. "Very well, sign our doom where you will, I'll do what I can to try and keep from going insane in the meantime. And people do this for favors from Shazmar?" he added with a quirked brow, "You'd think they'd have learned not to trust to favors from laughing deities by now!"

"Nah, most people just do it for fun and bragging rights, actually." Tarna snickered, going over to the Pairs booth, where there were side-by-side palm-scanners to input signups.

"And I considered the war-torn lands of home to be insane," Melaran muttered and smirked, taking a look at the booth and its sign-up and then glancing back to her as he rested a hand on the scanner. "So, since I'm not looking for bragging rights _or_ a gift from Shazmar, I suppose that means I'm just doing it due to insanity then."

Tarna giggled and did likewise. Their names popped up on the screen after the other pairs listed in the event. "I don't recognize any of those names."

"I certainly don't," Melaran replied with a shrug. "But then I wouldn't expect to, just another case of a battle leapt into without intelligence, support, or hope of evacuation."

He chuckled and shook his head, pondering just what he'd gotten himself into. There was still a great deal he needed to learn about his own abilities. At least Vicky had signed on in full knowledge of what _she_ was capable of.

"Well, the fact that I don't know any of them is a good sign," Tarna replied. "I know who most of the High Elkandu are, by reputation if nothing else."

"The difference being, I presume," Melaran replied, "The level of skill and power available to the being in question? Maybe a good sign at least."

She _had_ said that the Elkandu as a whole were often unwilling to work together, and this further proof of that left him with a bit of food for thought. The Eldar regularly drew upon the power of others in their channelling, so that was an advantage to be utilized when possible.

Tarna gave a nod. "Yeah. The High Elkandu are a certain power level, much above that of an ordinary Elkandu. And even your 'ordinary' Elkandu packs quite a wallop over a standard 'mage'..."

"It should prove an interesting tactical exercise," Vicky remarked, "If nothing else measuring the abilities which you possess and testing the strategic applications as well as potential variations which might be possible."

Melaran looked at her and chuckled. "Not quite how I would have said it, but about what I was thinking about."

Tarna snickered softly. "Well, we've got a couple days till the events start up. Hmm, looks like the stadium is open already for people to settle in and stuff... heh, it even provides lodgings and food. Shall we take a peek?"

"May as well," Melaran replied, shaking his head and chuckling again, wondering just when the Gods had decided to place him in a setting that required he be baffled regularly by his companions.

"I would like to find a source to research the energy manipulations common here," Vicky added. "Is there likely to be a terminal or other interface which could be queried there?"

"Um..." Tarna said. "You could try the Eyes of Truth database. It's in orbit of Lezaria. Which is the planet Torn Elkandu is adjacent to in the Ethereal Plane..."

Vicky nodded in acknowledgement. "I will seek to gain access to that database, then." That particular endeavor, in fact, was the basis of what the humans had inadvertently created Mind and Seeking within her, allowing the infiltration, control, and manipulation of Enemy installations from even parsecs away.

"It's Suzy's spaceship, I'm sure it'll tell you everything you'd want to know, you want a lift up there or catch a shuttle? Or just teleport..."

"I will return with you to the accommodations you spoke of," Vicky replied. "Contact and accessing of remote systems was the primary function intended by my creators, provided I request no restricted data I would assume that I will not even require stealth or infiltration tactics to accomplish the task." She seemed fairly normal sometimes, and then suddenly there she went off into left field, over the fence, and out into space...

"I've gotten so used to just flying around everywhere that I end up forgetting about teleportation," Tarna said. "The Eyes of Truth has transporters and we're close enough to use them. Hmm, I haven't been up there in some time, I wonder how they're getting on up there. I used to be the Eyes of Truth's navigator. Not that it actually _needed_ one."

"I feel a sidetrack coming on," Melaran chuckled, lifting a brow. "Feeling a desire to visit even more old haunts?"

At least this one wouldn't include a horde of Orks, or at least he could hope not. Vicky remained blandly attentive, though a look at her through other senses would detect a steady stream of power in use. There was certainly no difficulty with accessing the Eyes of Truth's database. In fact, the main database seemed to be designed rather like an extremely extensive wiki.

Tarna said, "Yeah, come on, let's see what Suzy and them all have been up to!"


	2. Playing with the Redshirts

Vicky remained quietly attentive, a portion of her consciousness sifting through the mass of data and accumulating it for future reference. Anything and everything was potentially valuable information in reference to her current situation, though the lack of formalized tactical data on potentially hostile neighboring star nations was puzzling. Did they truly have so little to worry them? How... strange. There was certainly a good deal of information about types and used of magic, people, organizations, and planets, really. It even had extensive surveys of other universes, some of which it has labeled "potentially dangerous".

There was a flash of light, some sound effects, and some disorientation, and they were standing in the transporter room.

Melaran took the transit in stride, taking a look around at the destination with clear interest. It definitely reminded him more of human-built technology than the flowing designs which encompassed the Eldar philosophy, but he had learned not to dismiss it merely because of the source.

Tarna stretched a bit and strolled out onto the bridge. It was currently unoccupied except for a smattering of redshirts.

"Where's Suzy?" Tarna asked.

A feminine voice from nowhere in particular replied, "Suzcecoz Ilawi is currently on Mophilia."

Vicky looked up at the synthesized voice in some surprise, knowing full well that it was capable of far more than that just from what she was dealing with it in regards to at the moment. The wealth of data was delightful to behold, and she stored it away for a more complete analysis at a later date. Only the magical subdirectories are given attention at the moment, being of practical use in the short term.

Melaran followed her out, still quietly watchful and attentive, familiar by now with being out of his element. In truth, he couldn't really think of anywhere that _was_ his element right now, and the thought bring a quiet chuckle.

Tarna blinked for a moment at the voice, but not at its existence, rather at what it was saying. "Mophilia? What the hell is she doing _there_?"

The computer replied smoothly, "Developing a project involving experiments with chaos theory."

"Chaos theory?" Melaran quirked a brow. "That doesn't sound particularly encouraging. One can only hope that it has nothing to do with the foul gods."

"Negative," the computer replied. "Suzcecoz's experiments do not involve any deities, foul or otherwise."

Tarna snickered softly at that. Vicky chuckled at the reply, not sharing the source of her amusement.

Melaran shook his head. "That's a good thing, at least. Probably don't want to know anyway."

Around the room, the various redshirts were looking to their screens attentively. Although, oddly enough, the screens they're looking at don't seem to involve readouts of data, but looked a bit like aerial images of a battlefield, with explosions and tanks and such. Although after a moment, one exclaimed, "Ah, you killed me, Jak!" They must have been playing some sort of game.

That was enough to draw Vicky's attention to the screens, poking at the much-faster interface to the system to query it for an analysis as well as rules of engagement, tactical data, and the strategic scenario. There was absolutely _nothing_ which fascinated a Bolo more than combat and military history. Nothing. Apparently, they were playing Dawn of War over the ship's computer against one another. Bored redshirts.

Melaran glanced over at their companion for a moment, quietly amused at the suddenly drawn attention and intent inspection. He shook his head, turning back to Tarna. "So, may I presume that it wasn't just this Suzy you came aboard to seek?"

Tarna gave a shrug. "Nah, surely not, I was just surprised not to see her here poking at one thing or another."

"I see," Melaran replied, though clearly having no clue what she was talking about. He grinned, looking around again, not really sure what Tarna was looking for here.

Vicky, on the other hand, had persuaded the computer to allow her access to one of the AI-controlled enemies in the game and promptly set about creating a much more difficult challenge for the other competitors. Shortly, the redshirts start swearing about Baneblades.

Tarna raised an eyebrow and looked over to their terminals and said, "What are you doing over there?"

The one who just got annihilated looked up sheepishly and said, "Uh... Playing Dawn of War..."

"Dawn of War?" Melaran asked, moving over to take a look, giving the strange pastime a puzzled glance. The source of their discontent becomes abundantly clear, however, as the tank went sweeping away in a convoy of smaller vehicles to continue onward.

"An interesting simulation," Vicky said blandly. "A number of different races with theoretical abilities pitting the strategic tendencies of the players against each other."

Tarna smirked and likewise went over to take a peek. One surviving player was stubbornly proceeding to try to fight off the tanks with a few squads of Fire Dragons.

"An interesting tactic," Vicky mused, "A potent close-quarters enemy with substantial anti-armor capabilities. Sacrificing the heavier unit as a distraction, however, allows the greater number of the smaller Leman Russ units to continue their destruction, finishing the work the Baneblade left behind, weakened."

Such sacrificial tactics were commonly used in times past, in fact, and an honor to perform where victory was gained. As the last player was destroyed, the redshirts looked to one another with varying looks of dismay, then back toward Vicky, Tarna, and Melaran. Tarna smirked broadly at the display.

Vicky merely looked at the screen a moment more and said, "A most interesting, if fanciful, simulation." She already had an archive of thousands of games which had available to mankind in her universe, and she added a copy of this one as well for later reference.

Melaran looked at Vicky with vague suspicion, then snickered as he could be pretty sure that anything which had _lived_ as a tank and was currently in contact with the computer...

One of the redshirts sighed and said, "Roll up another game. I'll take Tau this time."

They proceeded to launch another game, rather hoping that it went better this time. Tarna turned away from their screens and went to poke past a list of everyone aboard the ship to see if there was anyone she might be interested in saying hi to on board at the moment.

Melaran left Vicky to her quiet and surely innocent attention to the game, chuckling softly as he crossed to take a look over Tarna's shoulder at the list. Not that he expected any name to leap out at _him_ , considering his breadth of companions and people known since leaving his home was either with him at the moment or Gods. What a life.

"Hmm... Scregor, Vanankyte, Azale..." Tarna murmured. "You know, I just realized, I don't actually _like_ any of these people."

"That is not exactly encouraging, m'love," Melaran tepped with gentle amusement, then returned to vocal mode again with a deliberate hmm, "I take it that there's no reason to remain aboard, then? We surely shouldn't disturb these fine, upstanding officers who are so busily at their duty." Who were, in fact, grumbling about the AI and accusing each other of setting it to Insane difficulty at the moment.

"Unless you want to have tea and cookies with dragons and demons," Tarna said lightly. "Well. Azale is the _least_ demonic demon I've ever seen, but he's still a demon."

"Uh, no." Melaran replied firmly, "I'm certain that the demons here are a far cry from what I've seen before, but I'm still Eldar enough to shy away from the idea. At all. Thanks anyway."

"Why's that?" said a voice randomly from the lift. It was, apparently, the guy who showed up to tell Tarna that Torn Elkandu had been cleansed of Chaos way back then. He was currently firmly in elf form, black hair and green eyes, and wearing a shirt that said, "I LIKE CHEESE".

Melaran nodded to the newcomer, recognizing him vaguely from before... Azale was his name, if memory served. "Not the healthiest creatures to find yourself dealing with," he replied, "Beyond the fact that they're incredibly difficult to kill and do horrendous damage to their enemies, there's the whole losing your soul to a fate worse than death thing to consider."

"I'm not a Soul Mage, I'm a telepath/Seeker/Traveler," Azale replied smoothly. "I couldn't take your soul even if I wanted to."

"How reassuring," Melaran replied drily, "You'll forgive me if I don't test that theory any time in the near future, I trust. Things are a bit... different where I came from, though no less hectic and nonsensical at times than here."

"Oh, don't worry, people try to kill me all the time," Azale replied lightly. "Now, if you were worried about me turning your mind inside out and convincing you you're a duck, that might be a more reasonable fear." He smiled.

The light 'humor' associated with that didn't sit particularly well with Melaran, and his eyes narrowed as he replied quietly, "You might find that more difficult than your flippant remark would suggest. Anyway," he took a deep breath and looked back to Tarna, "Are we done here, then?"

Tarna said, "I believe so, yes." She pointedly ignored Azale. "Let's go get some popcorn and leave these redshirts to attempting to blow one another up."

"Sounds good to me," Melaran replied, pointedly ignoring Azale as well at this point and walking over to get Vicky's attention. He chuckled as she answered readily and seemed quite prepared to follow them, even as the redshirts continued to complain about the game.

Tarna chuckles softly and headed for the transporter room again. Taking position on the pad, she said, "Beam us straight to the Stadium."

They proceeded to get beamed down to a somewhat similar room, although a bit darker with blackish walls. The technology was not so different from what the Eldar utilize for transporting over considerable distances, and Melaran was at least grateful to be away from the demon for the moment. Despite Tarna's description as the 'least demonic demon', it was that same lazy approach toward violence and cruelty which was ever the trademark of their kind.

He looked around curiously at their surroundings. There was a low hum as of distant machinery permeating about this vicinity, and it was otherwise silent. The temperature was noticeably cooler, and the place appeared built of dark granite. A metallic door with a control pad beside it opened into a corridor leading away from the transporter room.

"How very ominous," Melaran remarked, though grinning, having the feeling that anything directly related to _this_ event would be about as safe as things could possibly be as they were at the control of Shazmar. He might think Shazmar was a bit loopy, just like Bob, but that didn't mean he trusted him any less than Tarna.

Vicky giggled suddenly, following them, and mimicked a voice from the game she'd been playing in the background, "Those are Eldar? I thought they'd be taller!"

Tarna looked oddly at her for a moment, then snickered softly. She headed over toward the door, which obediently opened with a whoosh, revealing a short corridor leading in a large, cavernous stadium. Seats and confection stands lined the place, and in the center was the Arena. The lights were dimmed at the moment, and there weren't many people around.

Melaran gave Vicky a puzzled look at her quiet quote, but shook his head and merely continued on to take a look around. "Hmm, quiet now," he remarked, "From all the activity at the registration area, though, I'd guess this place will be quite busy when this competition starts. There's nothing that people like more than a spectacle."

"Indeed," Tarna agreed. "This place is packed when the events start. There's private viewing rooms too with viewscreens and replicators and such, as well, and some of them opt to use those instead."

She meandered past a stand purporting to offer three million flavors of ice cream. Today's special was apparently Military Ration Sorbet.

Melaran gave the vendor an incredulous look, making a face of disgust before laughing. "They think that's going to sell? Maybe to someone who's never tried them!"

Vicky, oddly enough, considered it thoughtfully and obtained a cone of that exact flavor... and then quickly discarded it after a few moments of tasting and flavor analysis. 

She shrugged at Melaran's quizzical look, "I have always heard the humans I have served with commenting and disparaging the military rations provided, assigning them a wide array of derogatory descriptions. I was curious. Unfortunately I found that their distaste was well-founded."

Tarna laughed aloud. She turned to the stand and said, "Chocolate fudge ripple on a waffle cone." The machine obediently dispensed that for her instead, which she took and starts licking with an mmm. "Much better."

Vicky considered that for a moment and acquired the same, her expression shifting to quiet delight as she discovered that it was indeed far superior to the other.

Melaran chuckled. "You'll have to remind us now and then, sometimes we take for granted all the things that are learned growing up as one of those inferior biological beings."

"Certainly not inferior!" Vicky refuted immediately, "While I and my fellows may have surpassed humanity and other races in some ways, the 'human element' was ever the most perplexing and intriguing to us. We were honored to serve those so-called 'inferior' beings."

"Just joking," Melaran placated, chuckling lightly.

The ice cream machine said in a puzzled masculine voice, "I am merely a vending machine. I am not programmed for philosophical debates. Would you like some ice cream?"

Melaran laughed at the literal-minded machine and gestured the two females along. "Let's see what else we can find and leave it to its work before giving it a meltdown."

Tarna giggled and continued on. Other machines along the way offered popcorn, candy, soft drinks, hamburgers, pizza, and any variety of not-especially-healthy foods. Melaran wasn't particularly hungry, having eaten before they set out on this crazed venture, but Vicky did show some interest in the various foods available. More curiosity than anything else, and Melaran idly considered warning her of the dangers of curiosity before deciding against it with a chuckle. All part of the learning process... far beyond an adult in some ways, and no more than a child in others.

The place was really, all in all, very automated. There weren't even actually any people running the place. There was even a little vacuum-droid running around scooping up dropped popcorn and litter. It bumped up against Melaran's foot for a moment before scurrying off looking for trash to consume. Tarna munched happily on her ice cream cone.

Melaran looked out along the fringes of the Arena, toward the rows and rows of spectator seats, and didn't really want to think about what it was going to be like actually being at the center of all that when he and Tarna were paired against their adversaries. A good thing that he had a natural reserve of calm to call upon, he mused, else the idea would surely be terrifying.

Vicky, unlike Melaran's introspective and contemplative appearance, seemed to be enjoying herself, the sweet treat of the ice cream a delightful accompaniment to the games running in the background. "Ugh, greenskins, thought I smelled something."

Tarna glanced at her oddly again and licked her fingers, a bit of ice cream dripping to the floor and being quickly mopped up by the little cleaner droid. Down on the far end of the stadium they found a corridor leading off, with a sign over it that said, "To Private Rooms".

Vicky tilted her head as she noted Tarna's odd look. "What?" she asked, the biological human brain perhaps not quite as fast or flexible as the psychotronic matrix generally available to her, but used to its full capacity it was easily enough to multi-task the game, consideration of the files downloaded, and keeping current on her surroundings.

"Nothing," Tarna said with a faint smirk, finishing up her ice cream cone and giving another look over the confections again in consideration. It was a fortunate thing that Elkandu's magical abilities tended to burn excess calories quite readily, so that one would rarely see a fat Elkandu.

Melaran chuckled softly, indicating both of them. "You may as well indulge the natural sugar craving. It's not like we don't have a bit of peace and quiet for once."

Vicky looked at him quizzically, finishing her ice cream cone, then analyzed the comment against past references and tendencies of male and female behavior. A bit sexist, perhaps, but she wasn't going to argue trying something new.

Tarna smirked faintly at him. "What about you, aren't you hungry?" she asked coyly, chuckling softly and obtaining a peanut butter cookie from a nearby stand. Vicky followed Tarna's lead, nibbling at the cookie and appreciative of the taste sensation evoked by it.

Melaran smiled and shook his head, "Nah, maybe later. Right now I'd like to get settled in someplace and start thinking about how much trouble you've gotten me into _this_ time."

"There's private rooms down that way," Tarna pointed. "They've got couches and replicators and viewscreens and such, if you wanna go there."

Melaran touched his chest and bowed, "You are ever gracious, m'lady." He grinned as he straightened, "Don't get into too much, hear?" Then he turned to head in that direction.

Tarna looked at him in puzzlement, shrugged, and went to sample the pastry stand next, ordering a glazed donut.

Vicky was puzzled as well, but relegated the experience to another aspect of biological behavior that she had yet to understand. The concrete and physical things, such as the foods that they favored, were far more simple to understand than the oddities of their interactions. For now, she was more than content to remain sampling the local cuisine until such a time as other things were deemed more important.


	3. Illusions, Ice Cream, and Eighties Tunes

"I'm going to regret this, aren't I," Shenzel said rhetorically as the three shapeshifters arrived at the competition stadium.

The momentary melancholy had passed, as it always had and always wood, Fantasia knew. It just wasn't in the nature of the fox to mope endlessly about one thing or another like some emo kid online. Sure enough they had their times when things brought them near to tears, or even beyond that line, but those periods were rare and shared only with Luna herself... it was in the rules!

Getting to know those around her had occupied the passing time since, likely drawing more than a few hints of exasperation, smirks, and the occasional laugh. Again, that was just the way of things. Very foxy. Finding out about the competition and what it entailed had brought stars to her eyes, though, and she'd done all that she could to cajole, plead, and otherwise convince them to come with her.

Not that she meant to actually take part, not by any means, it just wasn't in her normal patterns of behavior to deliberately put herself into danger and the likelihood of ugly and unpleasant death for something so silly as a wish! Though, come to think of it, a very foxish grin would emerge at the thought of just what she could _do_ with such a thing. Decisions, decisions... Oh well, that could wait a little bit longer.

She grinned broadly at Shenzel, "Of course you won't, it's gonna be all _kinds_ of fun! Mwahahahaaa!" She threw her head back and struck a generically-villainous pose to accent the maniacal laughter, the the grin turned equally-edged as a mad gleam crept into her eyes and she rubbed her hands together in gleeful anticipation. "Trust me!" she said, dropping the act and smiling with sweet innocence.

Thorn said, "I remember all the kinds of 'fun' that generally happen at these competitions..." She proceeded to ramble on about the incident involving the birds and the bees as they wander down into the stadium.

Fantasia listened to the story, grinning all the way and considering the ways that she can contribute to the affair. Couldn't let people get bored or anything, after all, that's what a Ragabash _lived_ for... add foxish nature to that and there was ever trouble to be brewed. Her expression changed to one of thoughtful contemplation, ones which her old friends would have viewed with considerable alarm in days gone by. That and prepared emergency equipment, she snickered to herself. Some people had no sense of humor... or maybe they just had a higher degree of self-preservation, who knew? Silly people anyway.

"Ahoy there!" said a guy lounging around munching on peanuts and popcorn, waving at them and spilling a bit which a little cleaner droid sucked up rapidly. It was a half-elf with black hair, green eyes, and a T-shirt that said, "My other form has wings."

"Arrr!" Fantasia replied readily, shaping a bit of shadow and glitter to cover the side of her face turned away from him when they first approached, an eyepatch appearing. "And who might this scalawag be, who be callin' out to me own crew as though to friends?" She gave her best piratical glower to it, hands resting on her hips and bushy tail swaying lazily to and fro.

Not to be outdone, the half-elf's form shimmered for an instant and appeared in full pirate getup. "Arr! I be Sedder, scourge of the high sea! And who be you, ye scurvy dog?"

Thorn just smirked. Shenzel sniggered and ignored them a bit and looked at the confection stands.

Well then, Fantasia grinned to herself, not about to be undone as her own garb shifted to something far more appropriate and high-fantasy oriented for the fashionable female pirate... skimpy and complete with saber, broad hat, and a brightly-colored feather sticking up from it. A chittering monkey poked its head out from behind her back and crawled up on her shoulder, its face bearing a sly resemblance to the half-elven pirate.

"I be Fantasia," she replied with a sniff, "And ye'll be watchin' who ye be callin' a dog, else be walkin' a short plank, Mister Sedder!"

Thorn said, "You two are irrepressible. Also, I fear for this poor competition... he's the one responsible for that little incident I was just telling you about." She went off to join Shenzel in looking at the tasty treats.

"Ye don't say," Fantasia replied, giving Sedder a speculative once-over and grinning. "Then fun shall be ahead for all, says I, though Shenzie may be wantin' to be battening down a hatch or two t'keep the tides of insanity at bay. Arr!"

"Though we be a wee bit far from the sea, methinks," Sedder replied. "But did ye know there be a sea beneath the stadium? Arr, sections it be havin' for fresh and saltwater, for the merfolk and sharkmen and sea dogs!"

"Under the sea," Fantasia couldn't repress the song that bubbled up at that, and grinned as she sang a few lines from it, swaying in an impromptu rhythm to accompany it, "Under the sea! Darling it's better down where it's wetter, take it from me! Up on the shore they work all day, out in the sun they slave away. While we're devoting full time to floating under the sea!" She broke off and giggled.

Sedder laughed aloud, and let the illusion drop, putting him back in his normal clothes. "That year I also made little holes appear in the floor, with illusion to cover them so people didn't notice, and people kept falling through and takin' a little dip."

Fantasia let her own costume vanish, though her normal attire isn't all that much more mundane, and grinned. "Played a version of that back home too, though I don't think the people involved would've appreciated their being dropped into the sewers at a game of 'dunk tank'." She chuckled and ambled nearer to Sedder. "So planning on joining in the events, or thinking of your own fun this time around?"

"Surely, I can't let the Illusion event go uncontested now can I?" Sedder grinned. "I'm the greatest, after all!"

Fantasia smirked, shrugging delicately as she circled around behind him, tail curling to follow the circle. "Suppose that's one way of looking at things. Good luck with it. Me, I'm going to be a nice, quiet spectator in the stands, plenty enough for lil ol' me to see out there, and nary a bit of trouble to avoid... err, get into rather. Hehe."

"Surely gotta find some way to top the efforts of previous competitions," Sedder said coyly. "The ducks will be hard to top, though."

"Oh, I think there might be something which might be arranged," Fantasia replied, eyes glittering with amusement as she'd already considered what she was going to do, "The Mighty Ducks shall surely cry foul when their flight in history is interrupted. Why do something so incredibly dull and mundane, anyway?"

"Well, a bunch of ducks flying around the place, landing on the drum kit and people's heads and crapping over everything certainly caused a good deal of chaos. Thankfully, though, Shazmar's decided to keep the magic dampening fields down so we can still use magic outside the Arena!"

"Psht," Fantasia waved it off, "It can't all be _just_ about creating havoc, though that's definitely a big part of the appeal! Where's the artistry in that? Blech, ducks making a mess... it sounds so documentary, or Monty Python maybe." She stuck her tongue out at him playfully and went 'nyah!'

"And then there were the robotic spiders... and the time we reprogrammed the vending machines to produce nothing but military ration flavored items..."

Robotic spiders? Fantasia giggled, the idea sounding way too much like the Weaverlings... but no _way_ was she going to recreate them here, especially not the ones that were bigger than a VW Beetle. Eek.

"Now _that_ is just evil," she replied, "Not that I'd know personally, but I remember someone saying that military rations broke several of the Geneva Conventions at one point."

Sedder snickered softly, and indicated the ice cream machine, which currently had a special on Military Ration Sorbet. "And then there was the time I made all these invisible bumps on the floor people kept tripping over..."

"Well that I can't do," Fantasia replied, chuckling. "My illusions are just that, they don't have any real effect on the world. Well," she hmmed, "I suppose the paper magic goes past that a bit, but that's a fox of another color. Besides, who wants to maybe hurt someone when you're just having a little fun anyway? No way they're gonna laugh through a busted nose!" Not that her pranks _hadn't_ been lethal in the past.. another world.

"Bah, they're Elkandu, sides, there's a rapid-regeneration field over the stadium anyhow, people can't even die in here, so you can get away with a good deal more in here than outside."

"Meh," Fantasia replied, making a face. "When the laugh's the thing, and there's no other point to it, why bother? Sure, learning's often a painful business, but that's not exactly the point to all this is it?"

She gestured around the stadium, ears perking at the vivid image of all those _people_ waiting to be entertained, and she spun on one heel in joyful anticipation. Sedder snickered softly. A light went on on the far end of the stadium and some faint music can be heard, melancholy flute music.

Sedder peers over that way and said, "Oy, is Sheniro _still_ moping?"

Recovering from the momentary lightheartedness, Fantasia looked over in that direction, then back to Sedder. "Sheniro? Moping? Wha-huh?" she asked, clearly attaching no recognition to it at all.

Sedder pointed over in the direction the sad music was drifting from. "Sheniro, that guy playing over there. He's been at it for months now, I hear. Getting annoying."

Fantasia's ears twitched, turning inexorably to catch the strands of music drifting from that direction. Tricks and pranks were one thing, they were wrapped tightly through her nature on several levels, but music... oh, that was the joy of life and soul itself! Didn't matter what kind, well almost, she loved it all and couldn't resist the siren call of it at the best of times.

"You don't say," she replied thoughtfully.

Sedder hopped down from the back of the chair he was sitting on and skipped over in that direction. A single spotlight illuminated one pointy-eared guy with long pink hair, playing on the flute and leaning back in a chair.

When in Rome, Fantasia mused, her feet shifting of their own accord to head in that direction as well, ears following the lilting melody and tracing its delicate path avidly. She managed to keep herself from humming along the expected path of it, barely, and stopped to perch on the arm of a nearby seat to listen for a moment.

"Hey, Shenny!" Sedder said. "Play something cheerful already!"

Sheniro looked up at him, puts down the flute, and pulled out a piano from his pocket and started playing it. He proceeds to sing something only slightly more cheerful, involving "when you only got a hundred years to live."

Sedder smirked faintly and said, "I don't think most Elkandu can identify with that, honestly."

"Shush," Fantasia directed at Sedder, smiling over at Sheniro. "Don't mind him, the musical barbarians wouldn't know a good tune if it reached out and slapped em with a club."

So what if the music itself was melancholy? The music was the thing, anything else was irrelevant! Maybe it meant the performer was a bit sad themselves for one reason or another, but what better way to find your way out than by music, beatiful music?! Several other instruments appeared around Sheniro and began to play themselves, and he proceeded to start playing some Fleetwood Mac.

Sedder, satisfied that that was at least a bit more cheerful, went and replicates himself some ice cream. "You know, the Elkandu have a saying. 'Ice mages don't worry about their ice cream melting.'"

Fantasia chuckled absently at the joke, fingers tapping lightly to the beat of the music and her attention clearly turned mostly to it. Been ages since she'd heard any Fleetwood Mac, but she remembered Mick Fleetwood having this vest for some performances where he'd installed a rhythm machine... so he played drums on himself. She giggled at the memory, humming softly along to the familiar... she blinked a moment, familiar? Weeeeeird.

Sedder licked at his mint ice cream and said, "That's a funny look. Werecat got your tongue?"

Fantasia shook herself, turning aside the appeal of the music for a moment as she replied with a shrug, "Oh, just thinking that it's a bit weird that I recognize the song. I mean, how many Fleetwood Mac songs are there in the universe? Heh."

Sedder shrugged and said, "I dunno, probably a few hundred, eh?"

Sheniro said, "Would you prefer Elton John?" and switched tunes again.

Fantasia giggled and switched the appearance of her outfit to a garish design appropriate to the performer in question, including huge brightly-colored glasses and a shimmering keyboard that she rested her fingertips lightly at and pretended to play along as the song changed and lip-synced to the lyrics in flamboyant fashion.

Sheniro smirked at her a bit, and shimmered a moment, and suddenly looked exactly like Elton John, and when he continued singing, sounded just like him too. Sedder sniggered and licked his ice cream, far more interested in that at the moment.

The gig was up, and Fantasia giggled as she dispelled the hokey look-alike apparel, more than happy to let the other take the form since it _was_ his music and all. She barely noticed anything else around her right now, which was always the case when she was drawn into the spell of song... she didn't understand it, nor did she really care. She enjoyed the experience too much to try and analyze the magic out of it.

Sheniro seemed rather cheering up at that, and proceeded to throw himself into songs that were less depressing and more cheerful. Sedder finished up his ice cream and started dancing around in a silly manner.

Every performer needed an audience, that was what led them to it in the first place! Fantasia knew this, her own addiction feeding on the surge of attention that came from it, and she grinned over at Sedder for a moment and shook her head in cheerful exasperation. If someone was going to dance and make merry to pay proper tribute to music, they should do so in appropriate fashion... Which she hopped up and tended to after a moment more to let the music wash over and through her, absorbing it with closed eyes and a smile as she let the rhythm turn her as it might. Some considered music to be a tool, or an entertainment, she knew what it really was to those who followed that shining path... a master.

And then Morin, who apparently got forgotten at some point, showed up and watched them with a bit of a smirk. Hopefully they _really_ forgot Lupus and misplaced him at some point, too.

Fantasia had wondered where Morin had gotten off to, and grinned in his direction as the music continued on. She didn't have to think about it, and wouldn't have denied the muse even if she had, her step drawing her near and tail curling out to playfully brush at him. It had to be something about the ears, even in the movies and books the elf-types were always morose and distant, silly, silly people.

Morin grinned and blushed a bit, and let himself get dragged into the music as well, as Sheniro proceeds to start playing some Jefferson Starship. He certainly had a wide repertoire of sappy music from the 1980s.

Laughing gaily, Fantasia wove around the hapless and often-flustered half-elf, determined to get him to unwind and relax eventually even if it killed him... well okay, maybe not _that_ determined, that'd kind of defeat the purpose after all. And really, there was nothing that compared to the bounce of 80s music for energy, short of a bit of techno anyway!

Morin couldn't help but laugh a bit and attempt to dance as well, not that he was particularly good at it. At least Sedder, if being silly, wasn't falling over himself. Fantasia giggled at Morin's clumsy attempt, breaking away from the music with a final sway of her hips and flirt of tail, and pushed Morin to one of the nearby chairs.

"Sit, I'll get us some ice cream," she said and chuckled, darting off to see to the task with a light bounce to her step. Sugar, music, and company, what more could anyone ask for? Oh sure, there'd be some who'd cry for power or such silliness, but pfah on em!

"Sure thing," Morin said brightly, taking a seat nearby as Sheniro continued into "We Built This City."

"We built this city... we built this city on rock and roooooolll!" Fantasia sang lightly as she returned, drawing on memory from their visit to the ice cream parlor on Daresa for what Morin might like... even if she'd been tempted to get him the Military Ration special. She handed it to him and settled into the next chair, tongue flicking to taste the triple treat of mint chocolate chip, cookie dough, and black cherry swirl. Mmmm.

"Mmm," Morin said, taking his own ice cream and licking away at it. "I hear the competitions are always fun... I wouldn't know, I haven't actually been to one of them myself yet."

Fantasia blinked. "You haven't? Well why not?" She grinned. "There's got to be some kind of niche set up for your particular brand of hocus pocus! You should! Could be a lot of fun."

"Well, they only happen every seven years..." Morin said around a mouthful of rich chocolate ice cream. "At the time the last competition occurred, I was twelve."

Fantasia licked at the slowly-melting confection thoughtfully, the tip of her tail twitching inevitably to the beat of the music even now. "Well then," she replied, brightening, "Sounds like something you should definitely do, then. Once every seven years, and this would be your first real chance. Lucky you had someone around to chivvy the lot of ya along into coming, huh?"

"Well, I guess I may as well give it a shot," Morin said. "It's not like there are a lot of Void Mages around, eh?"

"I wouldn't know." Fantasia grinned. "Never saw one before Daresa. And hey, the flyer was big on this being a no-holds-barred and no real risk event, so you might as well go out and strut your stuff."

"Sure, I suppose," Morin said, giving a shrug. "Well, I guess the real mages could use one more person to beat up."

Fantasia smirked and reached out to poke his shoulder. "What kind of talk is that, anyway? You said yourself that your type is pretty rare, sounds like something to be bragging about rather than going all Eeeyore on it."

Morin snickered softly. "Yeah, yeah. But there's bound to be _somebody_ , and they're bound to kick ass. There aren't many Void Mages, but those there are are powerful..."

"Pfft," Fantasia retorted, saying nothing else immediately as she licked at the ice cream cone and murred in pleasure. "No pain, no gain," she continued, "That which doesn't kill you only makes you stronger... and other such silly sayings. Besides, there's nothing to lose and a _wish_ to be gained!" Not that that had any real appeal to her, well much anyway.

"Well, of course. I'm just saying," he said, grinning crookedly and licking a bit of ice cream off his thumb.

Fantasia chuckled lightly, nibbling at the edge of the sugar cone and alternating a lick at the ice cream revealed. "Hmm," she mused, "I should see if I can't make sure the others get involved too, oodles of fun to be had and I can keep myself entertained from the bleachers." She grinned, perhaps a shade too mischievous to ever be considered innocent.

"You're not going to join in any of them? Not all of them are combat-involved either, from the looks of things..."

"Nah, I'm just a country girl," Fantasia demurred, "You big city mage-types would run roughshod right over my fluffy foxtails. Besides, there's fun enough to be had just keeping folks from getting bored on the outside."

She nibbled a bit more, thinking about it a moment, then went 'nahhhh!' silently in dismissal. Sure, could be a bit of fun involved there too, but what would she really do with a wish even if she stole a win?

Morin poked over a terminal with a display of the events and who was going to be in them, along with a description of what each one entailed. "Well, there _is_ a Void Magic event... and there's a few people already signed up too."

"Well, if nothing else," Fantasia replied, "Should be good to see what other people are doing with it and pick up a hint or trick here and there. Never hurts to have or make an ace up your sleeve!"

"Suppose... Don't recognize any of the names on the list, suppose that's probably a good sign." Morin shrugged, and signed himself up for the event. "May as well, eh?"

"That's the spirit!" Fantasia grinned. "Have some fun with it, get blown into a billion little pieces, and get zapped back into being by the local elf kiddo. Hehe."

Morin snickered softly. "It can't be all that bad, I guess." He finished up his ice cream and licked off his fingers some more.

"Well, other than the whole being reduced to your component atoms thing, sure!" Fantasia nodded brightly and crunched into the last bite of the sugar cone.

Maybe she'd do it the next time around, after seeing what they actually did in this thing. Their ideas of how things worked were a bit different from what she was used to... not that that usually mattered to a Ragabash, but she had other things to do too.

Attracted by the upbeat music, Tarna came over. Morin peered up in her general direction. Sedder kept spinning and hopping about like a fool. Fantasia smirked and shook her head again at the bounding energy of the strange little half-elf, but she didn't appear inclined to return to the dance at the moment in the savoring glow of the sugar infusion.

Fantasia hummed quietly to herself, turning to nod in the direction of the newcomer and grinning. "Well hello there. C'mon in, the water's fine, and we have shark nets out at a hundred yards."

"Well, if you say so," Tarna said, stretching a bit and moseying over in that general vicinity.

It was inevitable really, a gray fin surfacing beneath the shadows of one of the chairs and emerging into the light to cross Tarna's path. A small humanoid shark poked his head out, taking a look up and up at the woman, then dive back into the 'water' and swam hurriedly away.

"Well," Fantasia remarked blandly, "Looks like we need some finer mesh nets or a smaller boat."

Morin snickered softly at that.

Tarna smirked and said, "Now, now, you have to learn to expect absolutely anything around here. This place is the capital of crazy, the land of lunatics, the haven of havoc!"

"Don't give me any ideas," Fantasia warned lightly and chuckled. "I might just decide to settle in and find a nice foxhole to hide out in when the heat gets turned up."

She hadn't really caused that much trouble over time, enough to get her hunted from place to place... well, often anyway, and she giggled at a few handily-remembered scenarios.

Sedder looked over at Tarna for a moment, squinted, then said, "Oh, it's you, Tarna! I didn't recognize you in that form."

"Another shapeshifter?" Fantasia mused idly, looking up at the woman speculatively. Pretty, with a complexion to die for, and the ever-appealing sharply-turned ears. Elves, had to love it, they had all the best genes going for 'em. She chuckled lightly, and not to mention _tall_. Sheesh.

"Something like that," Tarna replied, proceeding to give a bit of a demonstration, turning human, then back again. "Heh. Kind of funny, really, the registration computer put me down as a "Were-Eldar"." She sniggered softly at that again.

"Eldar?" Fantasia blinked, then giggled inexplicably. She should have expected it, really, with all the other strange things she'd run across lately, but it was still funny.

"Quite," Tarna said, "I was born a human, though, but my friend Melaran was born an Eldar, he can do it too now... He's off hiding in a private room, probably afraid of all you freaks or something."

In truth, Melaran had absented himself and made his way out of the area to return to the School of Thought, as he'd promised Tarna that he would along the way. The opportunity and timing were sufficient motivation to see to it as quickly as was reasonable... still so much to learn, and if he could practice at a bit more of it all to the better.

"Awww, we're not so freaky!" Fantasia replied, grinning, "Well, not the rest of them anyway, I've had that tossed in my direction too often to dismiss the possibility entirely."

"And that Vicky is an even stranger shapeshifter than I..." She peered around the stadium, "Wonder where she got off to, probably off sampling the pastries again or something..."

Fantasia smirked, looking past the new arrival and tilting her muzzle in indication. "If you're talking about the shadow, she's right over there." Hmm, almost enough for a proper throw-down gathering about, she mused.

Vicky had remained near Tarna, taking cues as seemed appropriate in exploring the oddities of the situation she found herself in. She approached quietly and remained silently attentive at the moment. Tarna waved brightly to her. Sheniro proceeded to start playing some Neil Diamond. Sedder got tired of attempting to dance and meandered over in their direction again.

"Y'know," Fantasia remarked, "Some people were lobbying to have Neil's music added to the list of torments banned by the Geneva Conventions. I think they wanted it placed under the same category that the Brits and Canadians considered the bagpipes, cruel and unusual punishment." She grinned to take any seriousness out of it, however, fingers tapping lightly along to the tempo.

Vicky had not continued sampling the pastries, instead appearing to have found something more substantial in a hamburger, a food item that one of her former companions had pined over along their campaign. An interesting taste sensation, she mused, chewing and swallowing methodically before replying to Fantasia's comment, "Not precisely accurate, the British applied it as a means to demoralize the Scots they had subjugated."

Sedder said, "Well... um... I once wrote video games as part of a recruitment campaign for the Drakandu!"

Fantasia blinked and looked at the red-head oddly, "Umm, okay then." She snirked and shook her head, glancing over at Sedder, "Video games for who? The Drakandu... sounds like some militant and monopoly-minded off-shoot of Microsloth."

Vicky took no offense at the reaction, having long experience with the occasionally strange effect that the long-standing historical databases of the Regiment had when dealing with humans. She could expect little more from any other humanoid, though she found it vaguely amusing as she took another bite that she appeared to be the only one present without pointed ears.

Sedder said, "The Drakandu were a faction of the Elkandu prior to the Planar Wars. I was their second in command way back when. Before the Elkandu Crisis, we had our base set up at Area 51 on Terra, with a portal there linking into our pocket-world Drakanna, which also had a Nexus..."

"So _you're_ the ones responsible for the conspiracy theorists and their focus on that stupid place." Fantasia smirked. "Do you have any idea the annoyance that brought to any number of people along the way? Oddballs and nutjobs the world over, eesh."

"But that was way back in the 20th century, before World War III destabilized the Ethereal around Terra and collapsed the portal..." Sedder went on.

"Okay, maybe not." Fantasia giggled and shook her head, obviously thinking of another universe entirely. This place was screwier than a room full of Ragabash sometimes.

"That was like ten thousand years ago," Sedder said. "Or five hundred years ago. We used time travel far too much before the Crisis."

Clearly another timeline, Vicky mused, digging through the appropriate files she'd retrieved for the proper terminology. Never mind that twentieth century Terra had been far longer than that in her own universe, they had encountered time travel in only one species. That had been a war of gross underestimation on the part of the then Concordiat, and the price had been high indeed in dealing with them.

Fantasia chuckled lightly and settled as comfortably as possible in the seat, perhaps not recognizing any number of the terms he'd used but not feeling any particular _need_ to, either. Ragabash tended to deal with the here and now, or what could be, rather than digging and rooting around forever in the past.

"So then after the Elkandu Crisis," Sedder went on, "we had to disable the time-runes on the Nexus to prevent a recurrence of it, not that that actually fully prevents time travel at all now, it just makes it a little bit harder to pull off."

Fantasia yawned delicately and looked around for a moment in thought, then shrugged and leaned over to whisper to Morin, "C'mon, let's get out of here. The music's good, but I didn't sign up for a history lesson." She grinned and stood up, waving to Sedder and crew. "Welp, time to go and get some rest, big days coming up soonish. You kids have fun now. And you..." She turned a genuine smile on Sheniro. "Thanks."

Morin agreed and let himself get dragged off. Sheniro gave a bit of a wave and started playing some Emerald Rose. Sedder continued to ramble on about ancient Elkandu history.

Vicky was content to stay and listen for the moment, comparing the personal historical reference to the data she'd acquired before with considerable interest. Fantasia, on the other hand, didn't do anything quite so impolite as run for her life, but she didn't make any bones about scrambling for the hills.

"Eek," she muttered to Morin when they're out of earshot, "Thought there'd be a pop-quiz later for a second there."

Morin laughed lightly. "I never much cared for my history classes, myself... all memorizing dates and crap that didn't really matter anymore anyway."

"No kidding," Fantasia snorted. "Who _cares_ what somebody did to someone else a thousand years ago. Ish. Let's find Shenzie and Thorn and see what they're up to or, barring that, poke around town a bit. I'm sure the competition's brought all sorts of interesting things out of the woodwork."


	4. Time Lords, Technobabble, and Laughing Gods

Another figure entered the Stadium, a young human woman with dark red hair and golden eyes by the looks of her, but with a bright Fire and Soul aura to anyone looking.

"Hey everyone, I'm here!" she said.

"Woo, it's Suzcecoz!" said Sedder.

There was a smattering of sarcastic applause and cheers.

Anyone familiar with old BBC programming would recognize the person who walked in after her, complete with overcoat, long multi-colored scarf, battered fedora, and the stick of a sucker poking out of one corner of his mouth... Kid had loved the old Doctor Who programs, particularly when Tom Baker had played the role, and that tended to be his favored appearance for casual encounters. He smirked at the greeting, digging around in his seemingly bottomless pockets to drag out an old Magic 8 Ball toy and an exact, functioning replica of a sonic screwdriver to poke around at it as he took a seat nearby. Always something new to see, but poking around at one toy or another was inevitably going to go hand-in-hand with it.

"Hallo," he offered in casual greeting to those nearby, then turned his attention to the tinkering.

"So what _have_ you been up to lately, Suzy?" Sedder asked. Suzy started a string of technobabble. Sedder smirked at her.

Kid grinned, listening to her, familiar with the woman's tendencies by now and actually picking up the train of babble readily enough... he _was_ involved in the project after all. He hissed and muttered, a wisp of smoke rising from the 8 Ball, and he sucked at a crisped fingertip with a scowl. 

"Grr," he muttered and returned to the task, absently clarifying for the technobabble-impaired, "Just tearing apart the fabric of reality and figuring out what comes of it when it's put back together in strange an unpredictable ways, then figuring out why it was unpredictable in the first place so it _can_ be predicted, accounted for, and manipulated the next time. Fun stuff."

Sedder said, "Er... right then. I suppose I should not be surprised at someone dressed like Doctor Who messing with Time..."

"Well of course," Kid replied, tossing a bright grin in Sedder's direction. "That's where all the interesting things are bound to happen! How boring to trudge day to day just like nature intended, we're tool-users and not monkeys in the trees after all. May as well see what can be done with the tools that we have and can imagine rather than letting the mind go to waste, eh?"

Suzy proceeded to head over to sign herself up for a few events. Fire, Soul, Technomancy, Omnimancy, and of course the big Open Free-For-All.

Kid chuckled, thinking about it himself, but not really wanting to cross swords with Suzy in any of his favored fields. He was good, but _she_ was a natural genius at it... Maybe just short of idolizing her ability and dedication to it, but definitely a lot of admiration and respect just from the things he'd picked up along the way that he probably wouldn't have even thought of. 

"Besides," Kid returned to the casual conversation. "It's a public service. Don't want people getting too bored."

Sedder chuckled. He was apparently still wearing his "My other form has wings" T-shirt. Apparently it was self-cleaning and he forgot to change his clothes. It happened after you ended up living for a few hundred years, little things like bathing and changing clothes would get forgotten, especially if you can magically stay clean anyway.

"I'm sure," Sedder said.

"Some might disagree." Kid shrugged, digging a bit of crystal from a pocket and tucking it into the ball. "But hey, it's not like they can't go somewhere else if they want to..." He smirked. "Nothing else they can always take their chances with one of the generator fields. What's life without exploring a bit and seeing what's out there?" Endless variety, all part of the service, ma'am. He snickered.

Sedder gave a shrug. "I'm sure there's a lot of things in the universe I haven't seen. Back when the Elkandu first started, we sent off teams to explore other worlds... and with the time-runes still on the Nexus at the time, we might have spent hundreds of years doing it, too."

"If there's one thing I know," Kid replied absently, "It's that there's more out there than anyone could see in their lifetime. The further you go down the rabbit hole, the more you realize it goes even deeper than you expected. Never-ending places to poke around in and see, not to mention find ways to avoid getting shot by."

"I don't know about that," Sedder said. "Elkandu tend to have very long lifetimes. Silver's only around twenty-five hundred years old, objectively, but he spent three million years in the outer planes, subjectively. I can't imagine that overmuch, myself."

Kid chuckled. "Oh sure, that's a long enough time, but just when you get to what you think is the edge, you realize it's just another boundary. Find the people who sit on their little patches of dirt their entire lives without thinking of seeing what lies beyond it vastly amusing. Ants, everywhere you go."

"I generally just call them 'mensch' myself," Sedder said. "They don't generally stay mensch for long once they start bothering seeing just what the universe has to offer.

"Mensch, peons, whatever the word of the week is." Kid shrugged. "Not that there's all that many really out there without the native wit to get past it if they can dredge up the backbone to do it. Never underestimate 'em, always a Saint George in every crowd."

"I think most of them just keep their heads low for fear of it being blasted off by a stray fireball or something, myself," Sedder commented.

"You might be surprised," Kid replied, glancing toward Sedder briefly. "Sometimes it's that fireball that sends 'em out, desperate enough to do something at last, and ends up causing all sorts of trouble for the one who lit the match in the first place. Always interesting to see what people will do in response to their environment, part of what I'm studying. Why will one do it, while another crumbles? Strange stuff."

"Eh, if you say so," Sedder said. "I once heard about one who got so annoyed about his things randomly disappearing that he went off and learned magic himself.."

"My point exactly." Kid nodded. "Never can tell what their threshold is gonna be before they snap and decide to do something about it. Definitely food for thought when poking their anthills. But that's all part of the fun, too, wondering when they're going to turn around and bite the hand holding the stick."

Sedder chuckled. "And then they come to Torn Elkandu and realize they didn't really know anything at all and their entire world turns upside down... sometimes literally."

Kid chuckled. "Find yourself in a new antfarm, gotta figure out the way things work all over again and go about fixing things to your taste. Once they take that first step, though, the ones after are natural. Just keep right on going no matter what they get tossed into. Not quite Darwin's dream, but fits into his scheme one way and another."

"People can get used to anything," Sedder said. "But anyhow, of late I've been poking around the Karzan Galaxy, interesting enough place, they got quite good at technology, but never much developed their magic beyond brute force."

"Sounds like the place I came from." Kid shrugged. "Pretty common template overall, technology's a lot easier to deal with for a lot of people than relying on forces that they don't understand and can't necessarily get a grasp on. Both of em have their good points, in my opinion."

"They had their psychics who had neat abilities and such, but really little developed them. Rather a waste really. They were so caught up in making spaceships that could do neat things that they didn't realize what they themselves could do."

"Of course." Kid chuckled. "Why look beyond what works? It's not like a lot of the same underlying principles apply, the universe being a fairly organized and orderly place and not being terribly fond of things changing the rules." Not that it wasn't possible to bend or even break those rules, he mused, but people as a whole didn't tend to look for the loopholes.

"That Empress of theirs, for instance, is easily High Elkandu caliber. She'd be a beast if she were ever properly trained, instead of relying on brute force whenever she actually dares to use brute force... so I gave her a few pointers."

Kid smirked, still tinkering and continuing the conversation idly. "Looking for someone to try yourself against in the future? Always more interesting to have a challenge out there."

Sedder shrugged. "It's certainly more amusing that way."

Suzcecoz, apparently, had wandered off and grabbed a pseudonut from one of the vending machines.

"True enough," Kid agreed.

Kid hmmed as he took a look around, dropping what he'd been working on back into his pockets as he stood up and went to take a look at the vending machines. Military Ration Sorbet? Someone was clearly either insane or a sadist. Pfeh, ice cream didn't sound good anyway, and he ambled on until brightening at the availability of pizza. He placed an order heavy on meat and returned to munch happily.

Suzcecoz took a moment to look over who was in each event. There were some names she didn't recognize. She proceeded to access the Eyes of Truth database for information about them in case any of them might be a potential threat.

"So what's the deal with this competition anyway," Kid asked between bites, devouring the pizza at an astonishing rate. "I know what goes on, at least from reading up on it, but why would this Shazmar do this in the first place?"

"For entertainment, I suppose," Sedder said.

Suzcecoz hmmed a bit as she notices the computer's logs. Someone clearly had been busy, she thought.

"Suppose being one of this universe's gods will do a lot toward adding to the tedium." Kid smirked and shook his head. "Oh well, more power to him, I suppose, not that it really matters, just a point of curiosity. Have to think that'd be pretty dull after a while... omniscience, omnipotence, omniwhatever, yeah, where's the thrill or challenge in that? Blegh."

Elsewhere, redshirts were still muttering over the past few days, the betting pools having gone to total _hell_ as the computer seemed intent on destroying them in any strategic or warfare simulation. You knew things were getting desperate when they start thinking of the potentials available in the 'Sims' series of games.

Sedder said, "Sides, the real entertainment takes place _after_ the competition, when people get their wishes and spend them on bizarre and inane things."

Suzcecoz pensively meandered over in Vicky's direction.

"I can only imagine." Kid grinned, thinking about it a second then wiping his hands on his scarf as he stands and ambles over to the registration console. "What the hell." He signed up for the Omnimancy and Free-for-all categories. That should prove to be fun.

Vicky had acquired a light gray uniform from someplace, consistent with the design and markings of the old Concordiat military where the Regiment had really gotten its start. Her hair was tied back in a tail that flows out from beneath the simple brimmed service cap that goes with the uniform, and her name was stencilled neatly above the breast pocket. She was currently munching on a bit of pizza herself and going over a few things in her head.

"Excuse me," Suzcecoz said when she reaches her. Suzy was apparently wearing simple green leotards today. "Are you -- well, of course, that's what your name tag says I suppose."

Vicky looked up at the newcomer. "Greetings. I am Vicky," she affirmed, "Is there something you require or would ask of me?" She re-prioritized a few mental processes to allow greater attention to the conversation.

"Hmm. My logs indicate that you have spent many hours remote accessing the Eyes of Truth's computers... You've certainly been busy."

"Indeed," Vicky replied, "I have required a great deal of information to familiarize myself with the workings of this universe and its conditions ro allow for optimal operation and calculation of probabilities where applicable. From your statement, and the dossier available through my records search, you would be Suzcecoz, creator of the system I have remained in contact with. It is a remarkable creation."

"Oh, yes, it's my latest design. I just built that one a few months ago, although my recent research has revealed a number of areas in which I could improve upon the design, particularly the technobabble relays and the remote chrono-recording sensors."

"Certainly there are areas which it may be improved," Vicky replied, "Yet its capabilities are far beyond anything which the majority of its personnel might ever require of it, the higher level functions only suited well toward one who is intimately familiar with the processes and principles which form the broad array of its capabilities. I would see, however, an interest on your part to expand it, possessing that familiarity."

"Oh, it doesn't really require personnel, although the presence of souls aboard allow it to produce stronger effects than it would otherwise be capable of, but its own luminite engine core is quite fully capable for most applications, since luminite crystals draw energy directly from the Ethereal Plane for its own use, although luminite explosions can be very dangerous should the system become unstable for whatever reason, they are inherently more stable than other similar crystals used by some, and very durable and hence luminite power core explosions are very rare, which is fortunate since one of the size of the Eyes of Truth's core might create an Ethereal rift large enough to destroy Lezaria, but generally the requirements fall well within acceptable parameters, allowing for efficient distribution of knowledge and information."

"I have had opportunity to examine the luminite power source mentioned," Vicky replied, "And have concluded that the minimal probability of any catastrophic reaction, even under combat conditions, make it an ideal avenue to pursue in terms of power throughput. The figures available in that regard were most impressive, presenting a substantial improvement beyond the fusion cores which act as my primary power supply. There are deficiencies when comparing the logic structure available to the hyper-heuristic functions of my own psychotronic network and Van Neumann engine, but well within acceptable parameters when the primary purpose is interfacing with colloidal intelligences."

Suzcecoz was quite content to ramble on technobabble with Vicky ad nauseum. Whether the nauseum came from the rambling or the junk food they're eating. Azale proceeded to juggle knives. Sheniro was apparently imitating Loreena McKennitt at the moment, and he did a fair impression of a woman too.

Vicky, for her part, was equally content to engage in discourse for endless hours on nearly any subject, the sum total of what humanity had learned through the ages and now the Eyes of Truth data at her beck and call providing a depth of insight and reason for curiosity well-suited to her nature. The junk food, well, perhaps not the most nutritious but definitely suiting the taste experience until returning to normal fuel.

Too bad Fantasia had scrambled off so quickly. She'd have loved to see Sheniro right now, and most likely have joined readily in on the song. Some tunes were just irresistible. Kid, having registered for what he planned to, settled absently back into tinkering with the bloody 8 Ball that he still had no clue what the hell it was going to be capable of... be afraid, very afraid.

The next figure to show up at the Stadium was a tall, almost radiant elf with strawberry blonde hair and hazel eyes... wearing a chicken suit and carrying the head under his arm.

"Oh look, there's Silver," Sedder said.

Azale snickered softly and almost dropped a knife on his toe.

"Looks like my sort of fellow," came a voice from a few rows up, an unremarkable figure other than clearly being of similar stock as Tarna. He flipped a salute in her direction, idly lounging in one of the stadium chairs in an unlikely display of comfort. Wouldn't miss this for the world, Bob mused to himself, not with all the people showing up and the likelihood of his vacation continuing diminishing.

Silver surveyed the area, spotted Sedder and gave a wave in his general direction, then went over to sign himself up for the Chronomancy, Omnimancy, and Free-For-All events.

"What's that?" Bob asked, listening to a little clockwork Jester that appeared to perch on the edge of his seat and made frantic gestures and strange noises in his ear. "Little Jami's fallen down the old well? Well hell, maybe he'll get some depth of personality out of it. Run along now." He grinned, the little jester vanishing as he dragged out a few brightly-colored liquid spheres and began juggling them.

Once finished with the registrations, Silver turned around and looks oddly at Bob for a moment, then approaches tentatively. "Hi," he said.

"Hullo there," Bob greeted with a bright grin, offering a cheerful wave which didn't stop the fluid globes from their movements. "What can I do ya for today?"

"I don't think I've seen you around here before..." Silver said, cocking his head and raising an eyebrow. The eyes on the chicken head under his arm loll about and point in different directions.

"I'd be surprised if ya had," Bob replied cheerfully, snagging one of the globes and taking a sip from it before returning it to the juggling circle. "Ahhh, that's the stuff. The kids may be a pain in the ass sometimes, but they do know how to make a good wine. Anyway, take a load off, no sense running around like a chicken with its head cut off."

Silver blinked for a moment, looked at the chicken head in his arm, and laughed aloud. He plopped the head down on a nearby chair, replicated himself some honey roasted peanuts, and sat down and started munching.

"Well then, as you might already know, the name's Silver. Of the House of Renneck, of the Windriders, if you want to get technical."

"Mmyep," Bob replied, "Long line that one, ran across one of your ilk a while ago by the name of Kyriel. Good kid, should find interesting times ahead of him. Eh-heh, not that that's necessarily a good description when coming from the likes of someone like me, but what the hell. What good's life if you can't have a little fun with it?"

"Kyriel is the rebirth of my father-in-law," Silver commented. "Where'd he run off to? I hope he doesn't miss the competition. There aren't many competent Wind Mages around."

"Oh, he's out and about." Bob grinned. "Surprise me if he doesn't show up, maybe lend a surprise or two to those who know him. That's the way of things, though, lose track of someone for five minutes and the next thing ya know they're off and doing something out of the blue and tangled up in things that you'd never expect. Crazy kids."

He chuckled, taking another drink from a different orb with a contented sigh. Things were about to get a bit more interesting back home. He'd be headed back that way shortly just to make sure times didn't get too hot in the old town tonight.

"Mmm, yeah, I imagine so," Silver said. "My own kids are probably off causing no end of trouble somewhere or another about now. Haven't seen Remmy since he skipped the timeline, though, the twins should be still around someplace, and as for the rest..." He pondered. "I probably ought to check up on them more frequently, I don't think I've actually seen them for a few hundred years."

"Always good to check in on 'em now and again." Bob nodded agreement. "No telling what mischief they've been up to in your absence. Though..." He smirked. "You probably don't have to worry too much about them going all melancholy and depressive for a few thousand years. Ugh. No, Kyriel's doing just fine, in good hands and looking to take on the universe. It'll be good for em."

"Why would someone want to be melancholy and depressive for a few thousand years?" Silver wondered, accidentally dropping a peanut which quickly got sucked up by the little cleaner droid. The droid crunched it and made a yipping sound reminiscent of a dog before zipping off.

"Beats me." Bob shrugged, throwing the globes in a narrowing circle until they merged into a single crystalline glass that he took a draught from. "Some folks go out of their way to do the damnedest things. Personally, I rather like the energy that ol' Shazmar's managed to infuse around here. Lot healthier for everyone involved, even if people might gripe about it now and then. Gotta gripe, or people just ain't happy."

"Shazmar does have a tendency to liven things up... sometimes very blatantly. I'm sure he said there weren't going to be anymore competitions, but here we are again. And they never fail to be amusing, since some damned bizarre things always come of it."

Bob grinned broadly. "Never trust a prankster god to stick to something like that. Ever. Soon as things get boring again, WHAM! BANG! ZOOM! Here comes another one. Looks like his boredom tolerance runs about seven years. Hehe."

"And that's when he's not randomly merging timelines, opening gateways to other universes to let people muck around in them and vice versa, changing the laws of physics for no apparent reason, or any number of other things."

"Well, that's kinda the domain of any God, don'tcha think?" Bob chuckled. "Hey, there's gotta be some kind of perks involved when ya have to deal with the endless details of people doing this, that, or the other thing to each other all the damn time. Enough to drive you crazy... or crazi _er_."

"Ah, well, keeps life interesting at any rate. Oh, look, here's Sidan and Ed now," Silver said, as the gnome and four-foot-tall brown bunny wearing a suit hopped in. They proceeded to head over to sign up for Security and Omnimancy respectively... then Pairs.

"Reminds me of an old line," Bob mused, looking over at them. "A gnome and a bunny walk into a bar..." He chuckled and took a sip of his drink. "Damn if I remember the punch line though." Could be all sorts of lines for that one. He was just feeling lazy at the moment and content to just chill out a bit. Time enough for things to get back to the same old routine later on.

The two of them proceeded to turn translucent, floated through walls and the floor, then popped up on either side of random people and said, "Boo!" The little cleaner droid got a good meal out of all the spilled soft drinks and popcorn.

Vicky looks rather confused as the rabbit-like creature popped up behind her and tried its startling gambit, unruffled in the least and more puzzled than anything else. "Yes?" she asked, the break in the conversation with Suzcecoz not wholly welcome, but received with the stolid acceptance of her lineage.

Bob just snickered at the antics as they went on, a thoughtful grin breaking out as they popped hither and yon. "Just like popcorn," he mused, "Never know where they're going to show up. Hmm." Oh dear, he was thinking. Run. Run far. Run fast. Run NOW!

"Heh," Silver said, "They're djinn, the prankster ascension. Probably the only ones around, or at least the only ones I know of at any rate."

The blank reception didn't do much for the being's ego, always a critic in every crowd, and Vicky merely blinked as he disappeared to continue his antics elsewhere. How strange, she mused, then returns her attention to the conversation she'd been engaged in previously, the idiosyncrasies of this place's denizens of far less interest at the moment.

Bob tilted his head, smiling as he looked out over the ones gathered, seeing a few things that were truly odd which required a brief look into to put in perspective. "Shazzy's got himself a good bunch of kids," he said, "Lively bunch and some of em even worth a damn when push comes to shove." Couldn't say that about all the Elkandu, not by any stretch, but maybe they learned a little something with Chaos. Right, he snorted.

"Yeah, they say the competitions tend to bring out the best and worst in the Elkandu," Silver said, watching the genie gnome and bunny float into the ceiling. "More or less."

The bunny proceeded to fall out of the ceiling above them and land on the floor with a soft plop, and said, "Don't immanentize the Eschaton, dudes!" then fell through the floor.

"Well that was certainly random," Bob quipped, shaking his head and chuckling. "And the kids complain that _I'm_ a strange one. Tsk." He took a sip, eyes going distant for a moment as he looked elsewhere, then remarked cryptically, "Careful kiddo, don't let yourself get burned."

"So, just who are these kids of yours, anyway?" Silver asked casually, munching on some peanuts. "Anyone I'd know?"

Bob chuckled gestures lightly in Tarna's direction. "Oh, she's traveling around with one and is kinda one by adoption. Good kid, that one, always ready to leap into the fire for little if any reason. Most of em are a long way off, though, doubt you'd recognize em other than their resemblance to the elves here. Eldar's their name, war is their game." He tsked softly and took another drink.

"What, you mean like the crazy red elves?" Silver wondered. "Or the ones who actually do things with some point, like the Windriders?"

"Nah, I could only _wish_ they'd let themselves go a bit that way." Bob smirked. "Though Mel seems to be working in that direction. Nope, the Eldar are always working toward a purpose of one sort or another, but unless you're one of them you can be pretty sure that you're not going to understand what the hell it is until the thing's said and done. Crazy kids."

"Oh, so just like the Windriders then," Silver said with a bit of a snort. "Therrin was _always_ telling people to go do things, and never explaining just _why_ , but they always ended up having a huge impact on the course of history, no matter how trivial they seemed at the time."

"Something like that," Bob replied with a smirk, sipping at the bottomless glass. "They tend to be a bit more enigmatic and confusing than anything else, even confuse each other sometimes. It'd be funny if it wasn't so damned annoying now and again."

"Like that time she sent off Elen the Excellent up north to slay the dragon Scregor, who was not, at the time, actually causing anyone any problems, and was a few thousand miles away anyway... and just look what came of _that_..."

"Heh, yeah, look what came of that." Bob chuckled. "Scregor's still running around, getting moon-eyes by some weirdo, and the reincarnation of ye olde noble hero is out seeing the stars. I dunno, not so bad, all things considered."

"Scregor got reborn," Silver said. "Several dozen times. On quite a lot of worlds, he says. And he ended up being some sort of hero in all of them. And this from the dragon who was once feared as a scourge that destroyed Taverak."

"Birth, rebirth." Bob shrugged and yawned. "See it all with enough time going by, nothing really new under the sun, or in it, unless you go about doing it yourself... even then, you're probably going to end up replaying some obscure scene from an ancient play that no one's heard or cares about. Chekov maybe. Heh."

"I don't see why not," Silver said. "I once read in a book at some point, 'Everything might have already been done, but _I_ haven't done everything'." Silver loosely paraphrased.

Bob smirked. "You haven't, but someone out there has, and probably is right this instant. It's the way things turn, part of the grand cosmic joke that goes on with each pass of the galaxy around the chewy center."

"Of course, then again, after three million years, accounting for time travel and temporal distortion, I've done quite a lot of things, but I still haven't seen everything or done everything."

"Give it time, give it time," Bob chuckled. "Well, that and enough of a reach to do so. Really puts a screwy spin on things when the long arm can reach right out and tweak your nose from anywhere it wants to. Ask Shazzy sometime, I'm sure he'd agree. Or not. Depending on what he felt like saying at the time."

"I give it plenty of Time," Silver said wryly. "That's what a Chronomancer does, after all. They certainly don't try to predict the future around _here_."

"Pfah, predicting the future and prophecy," Bob snorted. "The game of hucksters and charlatans looking to make a buck off the mark of the moment. Not always the case, not when you got the mojo to do it, but that's generally what you're gonna find. Besides, what's the fun in knowing exactly where things are gonna turn out? It's like knowing what the jolly fat man's going to drop off for ya."

So many interesting turns of phrase and examples he'd picked up since coming over here, ought to be enough to drive his kids _nuts_ when he went back. Oh, rapturous day!

"Well, certainly not anymore at any rate, thanks to Mika," Silver said. "I'm not fully certain _what_ he did, but he somehow made sure every conceivable outcome was just as likely as any other bizarre, random outcome..."

"Keeps people on their toes, I'd wager." Bob grinned, unfolding from his repose and rising to his feet to stretch. "Be interesting to see just what comes out of this competition, what wishes go where and which get wasted or cause all sorts of chaos. Too bad I'll probably miss the really funny stuff."

"Why's that?" Silver wondered, finishing up his peanuts and wiping off his hands absently.

"Oh, going to stick around for the fun of the events, see how the kiddos do," Bob replied, "Then time to head for home and put out a few fires that are, or will be, breaking out. Y'know, the usual routine of keeping an eye on things. Can't stay on vacation too long or things just fall apart all over the place."

"I wouldn't know," Silver said. "Nobody's looked to me to keep the universe from falling apart since before the Crisis, at which point it probably became abundantly clear I'm incompetent in matters of keeping the universe from falling apart."

"Pshaw," Bob snorted, grinning. "Sometimes things go boom, nothing to be done about it. The real test is how good you are with duct tape and super glue after the fact to patch it all back together afterwards without it looking like some kind of Frankenstein's Chaos beastie."

"I do hope, however, Shazmar does not make a repeat of the post-Planar Wars time, when he waited a hundred years to fix things just so he could laugh at Suzcecoz and say 'Gotcha!'"

"Well, what's a little joke amongst friends, eh?" Bob chuckled, "Anywho, nice to meetcha, Silver, think I'm gonna amble off and poke around a bit, see what one person or another is up to, maybe say 'hi' to Jami and see how he's been enjoying my presents..." He grinned, no humor touching it this time, instead a chillingly malicious expression.

Silver gave a nod and a bit of a wave, shivering involuntarily at that look, and wandered off to find Sedder himself.

Bob chuckled coldly, the darker side of the jester nature manifesting itself as he looked out over them with a much more calculating eye for a moment, then vanished to his little errand. He did so enjoy people ranting and frothing at him now and again.


	5. Genie Bunny, Jester, and Ex-Chaos Sorcerer

Bob really couldn't bring himself to do more to annoy Jami than he found upon looking in on him to find the man snarling and fuming at a never-ending stream of Jesters which he destroyed only to find another taking its place. They'd give him a break when it came to actually competing, but such was the danger of tweaking those which a prankster was quite fond of. So, he returned silently to the stadium and returned to lounging about leisurely, enjoying a bit of wine as he looked out over the people assembled with a quiet grin.

Sindri was looking at the rabbitfolk curiously, not having ever seen one before. Edminster did finally get tired of popping in and out and went over to get a Coke, looking over at Sindri looking at him.

"Is there some matter which bestows upon you curiosity towards my digs, mate?" Edminster said.

"To be honest, I've never seen one of your kind before."

"Ah. I dig you, buddy. I am a rabbitfolk, of which few have traversed space unto this pad of recent centuries."

"You sound like a beatnik." Sindri scratched his head. "Is that just the way your race talks? It bears striking similarity to a cultural movement in the mid twentieth century of Earth's history."

"Negative. My particular peculiarities of speech are due to an accident involving Mind Magic occurring at Mika's University of Magic several centuries ago."

Sindri blinked. "Right."

Bob sucked at the tip of his thumb thoughtfully, then looked at it and murmurs, "By the pricking of my thumb, something wicked this way comes... how odd." He stood up to take a look around, then leaned to rest folded arms along the back of the next row of seats. "Hmm, hmm, hmm."

He shed the normal garb, replacing it with the brightly-colored and chaotic patterns of the jester, though spared the jingling cap for the moment. He turned his eyes this way and that, pondering, the elegantly arched curve of his tipped ears seeming to quest for some sign, some sound, of what he's not wholly certain at the moment. Calloo, callay, what's abroad this day?

Edminster glanced over in his direction and said to Sindri, "I say, dude, but do you have knowledge of the identity of that there jester?"

Sindri looked over to the jester, tilting his head a bit.

The jester in question, turned bright eyes in their direction, then grinned broadly as a glint arose. With agile grace, he turned topsy-turcy to stand on the back of the seats by his hands, then curved to complete the arc and nimbly come to rest on the next. He bounded from one to the next, a final leap bringing him to stand before them with a sweeping bow.

"Good day, fair sirs and maids," the jester said.

"Fancy meeting you, sir dudelike jester-man," Edminster said, giving a wave.

Sindri gave a lopsided grin. "Eh, hi."

What a sight they were. One ex-Chaos Sorcerer, one rabbit in a suit, and one elfin jester. At least one couldn't tell at a glance that Sindri was a Chaos Sorcerer. He was wearing jeans and a Spy vs. Spy T-shirt.

"Fancy indeed," he replied, grinning broadly and returning the previously-absent tri-pointed and bell-bearing cap to his head. "Another fine set of celebrants come to test their mettle against each other in this tourney, a splendiferous event with fun to be had by all! Chaos abounds, I'm sure..." he trailed off, the grin broadening just a bit.

Sindri gave him a sharp smirk.

Edminster said, "Aye, and should I take home the gold on this fine event, I shall collect another wish to most likely not actually spend upon squat!"

"Oh, pray why?" the jester asked with feigned shock. "Surely the imagination is not so lacking as to think what one may gain from such a fine gift!"

"Bah, what's the fun in asking for stuff instead of just attempting to acquire it on one's own without divine intervention, dude?" Edminster said. "I play for the challenge, not the prize."

Sindri said, "I've never done this before, but I've been told it's quite a riot."

"A lop-eared fop after my own heart." The jester grinned, a glint of approval in his eyes. "Though hopefully not with bolter and chainsword. I've yet to behold the events myself, come of distant lands and times where ones such as dear Sindri would surely know hints of my name, but I surely look forward to the opportunity."

Sindri just blinked at the jester. "...who...?" He gave him a puzzled look.

Edminster glanced sidelong at Sindri, quirking an eyebrow and twitching an ear.

"Ah, ah, ah," the jester reproved, wagging a finger. "What fun life without a mystery or three, hmm? It's the very Warp and woof of the universe itself. More important to leap out and grow beyond what once laid its chains, bursting forth with energy to light the world around you!"

"I know not that of which you are speaking of," Edminster said. "Nor am I fully aware of what one 'bolter' or 'chainsword' might be, dude."

"He's referring to my rather...colorful...past," Sindri said, no longer smiling.

"Yes, how very blue it must have made you," the jester replied, donning a dramatically sad expression and capering from one side to the other, circling them, then breaking into a grin. "But the wheels of fate turn ever onward, and chains are broken, shattered by the first at the last! Make merry and joy!" He'd slipped into the stranger aspect of his nature, stranger indeed.

"Which particular color would your past have been?" Ed asked. "Red? Blue? Purple?" Edminster proceeded to juggle tiny multicolored fireballs.

If Sindri didn't worry about this guy being somewhat powerful, he'd fling him across the arena. Sindri gave the jester a not-pleased look and scanned the area for someone else to talk to.

He did manage to attract the crazies in the area, indeed. But then, most of the ones around here were crazy.

"Never fear," the jester proclaimed brightly, "The past is gone, and so long as the children may remember that shall the jest be on those who may else fail to play well together. I bear you no ill will for that past, dear Sindri, for I know you mourn them no more than I."

"Who is it of whom you speak, dudes?" Edminster wondered.

"I, however, am beginning to bear _you_ ill will as you continue to bring it up," Sindri said. "Leave sleeping dogs lie. I believe that's the quote."

"Dragons. I am certain it was dragons," Edminster said. "No one fears dogs burning them to a crisp and eating them."

"One of blue, and one of red, one green, one pink, and all best dead," the jester replied to the rabbit's question, then turns a sharper grin on Sindri. "Indeed the lesson all should learn, and remember in days past and to come. Let old hatreds and assumptions lie, lest the jest ultimately fall upon you."

With the way he was prattling about letting the past lie or the jest will fall on you, Sindri thought, he was going to be eating his own words if he wasn't careful.

"Whatever, dude," Edminster said. "The past is coprophagous."

"Ahhh," the jester continued, heedless, grinning still. "But does the jest turn ever upon the jester, or the one who fails to learn and let it lie? Therein is the question, and one to ponder deeply before allowing the old angers and prejudices consume you once more."

"Oh, you're a telepath too," Sindri said. "You think I..." He stopped himself but glares at the jester.

Edminster calmly sank through the floor until only his ears remain above the ground.

"Such trinkets and baubles are nothing," the jester replied merrily, "They are but the bells to tip the cap and nothing more. Ask the gods long past the wisdom of shedding the old ways, oh wait! They're dead and gone! Calm of spirit and pure of purpose, these will bring you joy, never the old hatreds and preconceptions."

Sindri closed his eyes, the hard lines of anger in his face softening. A hazy blue glow enshrouded him and he lifts off the ground. "Good day," he said and floated away.

Edminster poked his head above the floor again and peered off at Sindri. "What a peculiar dude."

Bob chuckled softly, tilting his head in acknowledgement, "Good day to you Sindri, may that wisdom continue to follow you." His merriment faded suddenly, leaving him appearing much aged. "I weep for the hatred spawned in my home, never to learn the lessons most needed until all are dead and turned to ash."

Edminster popped up and rested his fluffy tail upon the floor, quirking an eyebrow.

Bob chuckled softly and settled cross-legged to the ground, dispelling the jester's garb and returning to his more-common plain and simple homespun. "Long ago and far away, madness swallowed a universe entire, his home as well as mine. Perhaps one day shall the old ways die, but it will not be soon."

"The future is uncertain," Ed murmured. "But there's always the possibility. Things have a way of making surprises."

"Oh how well I know," Bob replied, a grin resurfacing. "More often than not I'm at the heart of those things at home, whether the kids realize or would understand it. Times will always change, but I find myself at a loss when it comes to the spark of hostility which beats ever in their hearts."

"There's little to be done about that. That's to be expected in every being of every species, to some degree or another." Oddly enough, it appeared Edminster was perfectly capable of speaking normally when he felt like it.

"You have noooo idea," Bob snorted. "At the drop of a hat will the old hatreds flare up, over something so silly as whether one has pointed ears, or perhaps wears the wrong color or style of armor. Silly, silly people. They've been at war waaaaaay too long, and it's not going to get better in the near future."

"Although," Edminster admitted, "it is rare to see rabbits going to war. More usually running away, though they'll fight if they get cornered."

Bob laughed lightly. "That's the smart way to go about it! Why in the world anyone would put themselves in the way of something sharp, pointy, explosive, or otherwise deadly is beyond me. When there's a reason? Sure. But how often do people fight for a reason? Pfah!" He stood up and brushes the seat of his pants, "Anyway."

"Perhaps it's because they're carnivores?" Edminster postulated.

"Sure does seem to be a factor," Bob replied, then grinned down at the small rabbit. "Good luck and give em hell, flopsy. Should be interesting to see how things turn out. Seeya about." He nodded, then disappears with a _pop!_

Sindri landed some distance away. "The nerve," he said to no one in particular.

He wander over toward Sedder and Azale to see if they know who the obstreperous clown was. Sedder waved vaguely over to him as he approached. The guy in the chicken suit meandered off.

Sindri approached, looking over his shoulder. "Who in the nine hells is that annoying jest-- where'd he go?"

"Who?" Sedder asked.

"There was some wise guy dressed in a gaudy joker's outfit..." Sindri points over towards the bunny.

Sedder shrugged. "I have no idea, but for some reason, there were ducks floating in his aura."

"Ducks... like, 'quack quack' ducks?"

"Yeah..." Sedder said.

Sindri looked confused. "Uh...what sort of...talent...would that entail?"

"Oh, generally any decent Illusionist can mask their aura so only a good Seeker can figure out what it really is."

"Why ducks?" Sindri wondered.

"Hell if I know." Sedder shrugged.

"Well, he seemed to know plenty about me...like my name, which startled me, but I let it sit..." Sindri said. "...then he decided it'd be fun to go poking into ol' Sindri's bloody and insane past...which ol' Sindri does _not_ appreciate..." He furrowed his brow and got slanty eyed.

"Oh, discerning someone's name is a very minor bit of Seeking... hmm, and that would just require Chronomancy..." Sedder mused aloud. "...there aren't any decent Chronomancers from _this_ universe I know capable of that. That is, that I don't know of already."

"Rather unnerving, I will admit," Sindri said.


	6. Demons and a Random Catalyst

An unassuming but attractive human woman entered the Stadium, wearing long-sleeved clothing that covered nearly her entire body except for her face. She went over to the terminal and signed up for Time, Earth, Omnimancy, and Free-For-All events.

It wasn't that Bob had radar or anything, just one of those things that tended to go along with being a distant cousin to Shazzy and a nose for interesting events. Things were going to be warming up soon enough elsewhere, may as well enjoy the last of his vacation! Having re-introduced himself to Jami in the interim with great glee, Bob returned to the gathering of being in the Stadium.

Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble, he mused, reappearing in an inconspicuous seat nearby the hubbub and burbling energy in the full jester's motley he'd worn for the benefit of his last visit, he settled lazily back in his seat with a grin and sipped at a pineapple-shaped drink with a fluorescent-orange umbrella sticking up out of it. So many people, so little time. Tch, lucky sod Shazzy was. Ah well.

At least some people recognized Jami's sometime wife, Kim'che Starsword, and waved to her, and she waved absently back to them. Even those that didn't could generally spot her brilliant blue and green aura, clearly marking her as one of the High Elkandu. She meandered over to pick up something to drink.

Oh yes, Bob would recognize that one, not that he could fathom what in the world she could possibly have to keep her near that skunk's reek. More power to her, he supposed, and to each their own. Tsk, shame really, but you couldn't save people from themselves, now could you? He'd done about all that he could in that regard with his little playmates, anyone who couldn't escape the madness with them around wanted to be. Tsk, still a shame.

Kim replicated herself a glass of ice-cold lemonade and took a sip, surveying the stadium with a calculating eye, her gaze sifting over the auras of those she didn't recognize here. Although she may not look it at the moment, Kim'che was also one of only a handful of quicksilver demons in existence.

Hmm, Bob mused thoughtfully, taking another sip of the highly-sweet tourist-trap drink and studying her thoughtfully, then looked deliberately away with a shrug. That particular circle wasn't one that he cared to tinker with too much. He'd paid his debt in that regard, and Jami certainly deserved what he'd done and more, but beyond that... Nah, just not his style to meddle more than needful.

His toes tapped a quietly-energetic rhythm however, clearly itching to be on the move in one direction or another even if he hadn't consciously decided which way just yet. Only thing he would do right now was make sure Tarna didn't fall afoul of any nasty little tricks. She was still high on his list and was a good kid. Besides, he snorted to himself, Melly-boy would just turn all shades of morose. Ugh, kids!

Kim absently went and chatted a bit with Sedder in a friendly manner. The Chronomancers generally got along with one another for the most part. Headaches tended to occur all around when they didn't, as evidenced by the recent Chaos split. Sheniro was playing a bit of Neil Diamond in a cheerful manner. Tarna was at least staying out of trouble for the moment at any rate.

Bob wrestled with it for a moment more, then grinned as the drink vanishes and he shrugged, who was he to argue with his nature? There had to be _some_ perks to being a God, and if you couldn't have a bit of fun now and then what was the point? He laughs gaily and uncoiled, rehashing his performance of the night before to cross in easy hand stands and roll-overs from row to row until dismounting to the stadium floor. The motley vanished, except for the jingling hat, instead replaced by a courtier's garb and long, flowing cloak as he strode over toward Sedder and his ever-charming companion.

"Madame Starsword," he called out boldly, sweeping the cap from his head with a merry jingle of bells and yet somehow managing to convey a suitably-genteel demeanor as he swept a bow. "My soul can ill-contain the honor at your presence this day."

Overall, good effect, but the mischievous grin he flashed as he straightened ruins it just a tad.

Kim barely restrained herself from laughing aloud at his appearance. "Er, hi," she said, giving him a clumsy wave.

Sedder snickered softly and leaned against a vending machine.

"Be still, my heart," Bob rested a hand dramatically over where that organ would be... if he had one that is. "Such glory and beauty to grace these shabby halls, a shame indeed were it not remarked in one manner or another." He dipped a hand beneath his cloak and draws forth a flawless crystalline rose, its petals shimmer and fluttering in the faint passage of air as he extended it to her. "Pray accept this paltry token, in gratitude."

Kim absently took it in confusion, raising an eyebrow and wondering who the in the Abyss this guy was and what he was up to. "Er, thanks, I think," she stammered.

Sedder sniggered some more and replicated himself a bag of Cheetos.

Bob grinned, drawing his sleeves back in display, "Pray not suspect my intent, fair lady, as I've no tricks up this sleeve or that. I merely wish a moment to bask in the radiance of one who shines beyond the brightest star, and causes the moon herself to shed silver tears in envy."

Okay, so he was laying it on thick, but hey, who couldn't use a bit of bravado and performance art in their life?

"If you say so," Kim said with a faint smirk, looking over the flower curiously. "So who are you, anyway?"

"What is in a name?" Bob posed in reply. "Is it the sum of what we are, or merely a convenient label which others would lay upon us and use to their own ends? Freer without or within, therein lay the question in truth." He grinned. "Call me as you wish, O sister of the morning star, and surely shall I hear and hark to your words, whether curse or laughter, though I'll admit to preferring the latter!"

Kim hardly opened her mouth to reply before the lighting in the Stadium suddenly grows darker, and ominous theme music started playing from nowhere in particular, she peered about as a black robed figure with a dark hood covering his face enters the building. There was a crash of drums as he raised his arms and said, "I have arrived."

"Laughter ever, dear lady," Bob nodded to her lightly, a thin smile brushing his lips even as he turned toward the dramatic entry and clapped perfunctorily. "Oh, very nicely done, though I suspect Spielberg might have served you better for the special effects dear boy. So cliche, really must work on the creative angle a bit, wouldn't you think?" He looked aside to the lady with an arched brow, the question to her.

"You!" Sardill said, lifting a gloved hand directly at Bob. "Yes, you! The truth in the prophecy is here shown, for twisted the skeins of Time. You shall be the one to defeat me."

Kim just kind of stared at him.

Bob laughed gaily, "Oh, some people are just _so_ stuck on themselves and these silly notions of prophecy. Can't look into next week to see the stock reports around here with any real accuracy, yet here comes one who swears I've been foretold." He shrugged, looking mildly perplexed. "And he doesn't even know me. Usually don't get run out of town until at least the second night," he mused.

Azale popped his head up and said, "Sardill, didn't you say you'd be defeated in the _seventh_ competition, by somebody called Bob? This is the eighth one."

Sardill said smoothly, "The details of a prophecy are not always clear when first sighted."

Kim couldn't help but laugh softly at the entire matter.

Bob grinned aside to Kim, offering a small bow to her at the momentary laughter... oh, he did love that sound, far better than the overblown and pompous rantings of the lunatics here and there. Turning back to Sardill, he walked over.

"There, there, old boy, must be a dreadful strain and all," Bob said. "Why don't you have a seat and I'll fetch you a glass of nice warm milk to ease your nerves."

"Beer," Sardill said. "I shall consume beer and cookies. Verily, it must be so, for thus I proclaim it to be!"

Sedder said, "You know, Sardill... you aren't a prophet. You aren't even a Time Mage."

"Beer and cookies," Bob chuckled, making a face. "Well, so be it, but that's going to be hell on your stomach. Sure you wouldn't like a nice spot of... well no, of course not."

He finished with a grin, offering a plate of raisin cookies and 'beer' to Sardill. Looked like beer, smelled like beer, tasted like beer... and acted like prune juice. Old boy clearly needed a bit to help straighten him out! Sardill proceeded to sit and consume the treats. Kim, Sedder, and Azale were all laughing lightly at him. It was impossible not to.

Sardill gestured at Bob with a cookie fiercely and said, "You. You shall be the one to destroy me. The one to finally grant me oblivion. Yes. You."

"Tsk, if you say so." Bob shrugged. "Though I really don't have any interest in it, just passing through and all that..." He snickered at the private joke, then continued, "Happen to have stepped on anyone I'd care to avenge lately? Hmm, no, don't think so. I'm afraid you're looking for a horse of another color, dear man."

"I devoured the souls of millions of elves," Sardill said. "I cursed entire races, and quite a few individuals. I cursed Tarna to decades of pain and suffering."

"Oh yes, there is that," Bob hmmed thoughtfully, scratching his chin. "Well, much as she might have hated it, can't say that she's done all that badly for herself since. Right cheerful and chipper girl, in fact! Besides, can't be all that bad, what have you really done lately to be looking for this whole oblivion thing? Dreadful bore, and I'm sure the grim reaper is just horrible company. No sense of humor!"

Sardill ranted, "I am madness... I am boredom... I am nothing any longer... I have the power of a god, and yet I was denied that... What point is there? What point, I ask you?"

"What point indeed..." Bob murmured, studying the cloaked figure for a long moment in silence, then continuing quietly, "You're bored. Believe me, I understand that, and the frustration of everything turning out other than how you intended. Has a tendency to make you cranky, doesn't it? You've got a good deal of power though, Sardill, and what have you _really_ done with it? Wasted it, I'd say, when there's so much more..."

"But what else am I to do? There is nothing for me here any longer." Sardill sighed and stared off, cookie crumbs crumbling under his fingers and being sucked up by a cleaner droid as they hit the floor.

Bob dropped to an easy crouch, arms resting on his thighs as he smiled. "So go out and make something new. Give it life, give it hope, give it laughter... all the things that _really_ make living worthwhile. When was the last time you had someone look at you with something other than fear, huh? Pretty lonely existence I'd think... So. Make it anew. Go to a space that's not in use and... _create_. I'd lend a hand to that, when possible."

"We did, in the beginning," Sardill said. "I, and Amanda, and Harmony... most of the races that you see around the universe these days, they were our doing...."

"So do it again," Bob replied lightly, "Do it right this time, don't let the darkness creep up and bite you in the ass. Hey, you have one hell of an opportunity here, hell my kids ignore _me_ , but you... well, you could do it from scratch and be the one they looked to in the dark of night when their own souls are troubled just like yours is now. Or, you think you don't have the will to do it again?"

"And so it shall be, from each thing its opposite, from darkness there comes the light, from death comes new life, as ever it shall be so," Sardill proclaimed, proceeding to glow brightly. Then, in a flash of brilliant light, he vanished.

Kim blinked in confusion at the spot where Sardill had been sitting.

Bob chuckled softly and stood, murmuring to himself, "Well, guess there's something to be said for prophecy after all."

He shook his head bemusedly, looking around for a moment and trying to track back to what he'd been thinking of before the rather strange interruption. Laughter, light as silver... ah yes.

"Always an interesting place, this one," he said brightly, turning back to Kim with a quirked grin.

Kim said, "That's certainly an understatement. So are you really called Bob, or was he just barking up the wrong tree as usual?"

"A name I've used now and again," Bob replied, "Though certainly not what I began with or have used at others. Merely one of those convenient labels I mentioned, whilst dealing with young Tarna and a rather morose and stubborn child of mine." He smirked and rolled his eyes.

"There was another fellow named Bob who was around here some years back," Kim said. "A mensch by birth, oddly enough, but he ended up becoming quite the competent Omnimancer."

"Fairly common name, so I gather." Bob chuckled lightly. "Yet it suits the purpose well at times, though perhaps not so grandly when seeking to make a more suitable and serious impression as I was first wont to do." Leave it to the universe to throw a cosmic banana peel his way now and again, oh well, kept things interesting.

A large cherry red ring drew itself on the ground. Bizarre, writhing runes grew out from it.

"I wonder where Sardill went," Kim said absently. "Wait, no, I don't, I don't actually want to know."

Sedder sniggered some more. Azale proceeded to juggle flaming torches.

The ring and runes became a lambent red and burst into a cylinder of flame about ten feet tall. When it subsided, a large demon was standing there, looking rather amazed.

"He'll be fine enough, I think," Bob replied quietly, rather amused at the turn of events personally, and paying only minimal attention to the odd events transpiring nearby. Nothing to worry about, really, he seemed a magnet for the odd... or was it that he created it? He chuckled. "Regardless, I regret that it spoiled my first impression, fair one. Forgive my rude lack of attention."

"How wonderful!" the demon said, sounding genuinely amazed. "That certainly beats walking everywhere."

"Oh, don't worry, Sardill has that effect on people." Kim'che quirked an eyebrow over at the demon, but didn't seem to take his appearance as anything particularly unusual around here. 

Azale waved cheerfully over toward him. He was currently wearing a shirt that said, "All Your Cheese Are Belong To Us".

The awe-stricken beast looked around at the crowd. "So, this is the place..."

"I would decry ulterior motive," Bob said, grinning faintly. "Yet would it be a lie, and I'd not stoop to it even now, stunned to honesty by the glimmering beneath which the sun itself pales into shadow. I'll not be so crude as to speak of it, however, as I fear twas a petty and ignoble thing indeed." Bob was, well, Bob. Standing there in Elizabethan era courtier clothing, topped off with a jester's cap.

There wasn't too much of a crowd yet, but people were trickling in so it was a fairly well mid-sized crowd, plenty of room still though and still relatively quiet, as the events had yet to actually start.

Azale said, "So I see you got Traveling down at any rate."

Sindri looks at the demon and looked away quickly.

"Yes, it would seem so," the demon said. "Apparently I have kin in this universe I didn't even know about!"

Azale said, "Oh, sure, we're all over the place. And right in front of you." He smirked in the general direction of Sedder and Kim'che, not that either of them looked especially demonic at the moment.

"Oh, you're a demon too?" He seemed...ignorant of the abilities of the people of Torn Elkandu and this universe.

He peered at Azale, his eyes changing colors twice. "No horns...no leathery hide or wings...although I do note the shirt." He said as slow as molasses in January.

"Yeah, it's me, Azale? Remember, I ran into you out in Torn Elkandu a while back?"

Kim chuckled softly at Bob.

"Oh yes, you!" He smiled that razor grin.

It would suffice, Bob mused, that she'd taken the rose, surely enough to test the rage of unpleasant folk. He nodded pleasantly to her. "Yet shall I command or ask nothing more, fair light, and leave you to your revelry." The simple nodded transforms mid-motion to an eloquent bow, jarred once more by the jingle of bells, and he grinned as he stepped back. "Fair thee well." he murmured, and he would watch and ward.

"Who are your friends here?" the demon asked.

Kim gave a bit of a bow in Bob's general direction as he left. Azale gestured at them and said, "That's Sedder 'The Shadow', and Kim'che Starsword." They waved absently. "Guys, this is Theophantus."

Theophantus perused them with his eyes. "And you say they are demons? They look... humany."

Sedder sniggered. "Well, shall we show him?"

Kim said, "Sure."

They spun around on cue, and rapidly changed form. Sedder was a black shadow demon with broad wings, although less pointy and sharp as Azale's raven demon form. Kim's form was a silvery and elegant quicksilver demon, with smooth, almost fluid wings.

Theophantus' eyes went wide. "Now that's more familiar looking." He grinned. "But why hide your true nature?"

"... door frames," Sedder said.

Theophantus laughed a deep leaden guffaw. "Good point. Being ten feet tall and having wings does make doors difficult."

"Though it's not so much a problem in Torn Elkandu..." Sedder said. "Even a fifty foot dragon can fit through the doors, although it looks fairly mind-wrenching to watch space warp around them like that..."

"I can only imagine," Theophantus said.

Kid, not having missed the appearance or lacked attention turned toward the taste of magic uncoiling, watched them from nearby, then shook his head and returned to tinkering on the black sphere he'd been working on, muttering, "Egh." Demons, why did it always have to be demons? Foul, nasty, cranky things with not the least bit of humor in 'em. Pfah.

Since everyone else felt like being demonic, Azale shifted as well, and continued juggling flaming torches, telekinetically making them circle in the air on their own just to show off. Sedder sniggered at him.

Theophantus looked at Azale, chuckled, and pointed at the torches. A lambent glow engulfed them and they became little more than spheres of superheated wood.


	7. Wine with a Weirdo

There were times when the universe didn't make much sense even to him, though Bob knew there was always a reason of some sort hiding in the shadows under the table or somewhere else to explain why he decided to do this or that. Sometimes it was intentional, other times it was merely whimsy and a hunch of sorts that he followed, either way things tended to need doing now and again, a feeling he was having now.

Why, now that was a question he couldn't quite put a finger on, but who was he to deny the muse when it kept him from sitting still? He laughed lightly to himself, donning the more elegant courtier apparel he'd worn recently and topping it with the jester's cap before taking a look in a mirror thoughtfully. It'd do, he decided, and headed off to follow his wayward strand of thought. Where, oh where might you be, Kim'che?

Kim had ended up sitting off by herself away from those weirdos off in a mostly secluded niche that was about as quiet as one was going to get and still actually be in the stadium proper. She was sitting hunched up in demon form, wings curled over her body and knees up to her chest, staring off and musing quietly.

"Ahhh, and what brings the veil of silence to trouble you, fair lady?" Bob grinned, appearing nearby. "Ever should music be played brightly and merriment be found about to pay homage to the wellspring of vitality and brilliant life which you embody! Surely the universe is not being quite so remiss in its duties?" He moved from the shadowed way he'd appeared in and offers a bow.

"I was never really much of a Pyroluminescence fan," Kim'che replied dryly, barely glancing up toward him with a faint smirk. "Why do you talk like that?"

Bob chuckled lightly, propping himself nearby and folding his arms. "And what, pray tell, would you find offensive in my speech? Surely I would remedy it at your whim, sooner to cause the stars to cease in their eternal path than risk a whiff of your disdain or displeasure. I am but a humble servant, starved of light and now stunned to find it once more revealed!"

Kim blinked at him and muttered, "Edminster is more coherent and intelligible." Kim sighed and pulls her wings closer about her, covering her face.

"Tsk, clearly the spirit is in no mood for pleasant games and trivialities," Bob replied softly, the near-manic grin softening to a smile as he leans forward to extend a hand palm-upward to her in invitation. "Set aside distrust and uncertainty for a moment, and join me elsewhere for a bit of peace and quiet? I promise I mean you no harm and will let none come to you. I'll even knock off the BS for a bit, deal?"

Kim'che sighed softly and unfolded her wings and looked at him. "Fine, okay," she murmured quietly, "If you say so..."

"That's the spirit," Bob replied, quietly encouraging, and took them elsewhere.

They emerged on a softly-lit balcony which overlooked lush forests and a lake glimmering with the light of a full moon soaring serenely in the skies above. A glass-paned double door opened into the castle proper, though thick curtains blocked any view within for the moment. He was weird. They could literally be anywhere at the moment.

Gesturing to a chair placed conveniently nearby, Bob said, "Have a seat if you like. Would you care for some wine, or anything else to eat or drink?"

Kim blinked at the sudden transition and peered about the vicinity in puzzlement. "Where did..." she trails off, then looked at him. "Ach... what do you..." She stared off to the moon, frowning.

"I thought a change in scenery appropriate," Bob replied with a chuckle, producing a couple of glasses and offering her one. "Just getting away from the rush and press of things for a bit, a nice place to have a chat I think."

Kim sat down tentatively, coiling her fluid, whip-like tail around the chair leg pensively. She took the glass and peered at it a bit, sniffing it hesitantly before taking a cautious sip.

"Quite a good wine," Bob remarked, taking a sip himself and resting against the stone railing which circles the balcony. "Anything else aside, the kids know how to transform the grape." He gazed out across the landscape for a long moment, idly turning the glass in his hand. "Kinda odd what a change of scenery can do, all sorts of memories and turns of thought hiding in corners suddenly come out to play." Shaking his head, he took a drink.

"Where are we?" she asked, staring out absently over the landscape and taking another sip of her wine, as it wasn't only clear that she was not dropping over dead or anything, but didn't think he could slip past her Time Magic enough that she wouldn't notice him attempting to pull a fast one or something.

"Oh someplace, sometime, somewhere that caught my eye for some reason," Bob replied absently. "Of course the castle wasn't here before, but that's easy enough to take care of. Real estate, though, that's another matter entirely. Just look at that lake, nestled safely among the forest and glittering like a jewel in the moonlight. That kind of attention to detail, that's not just tossing something together, that's art!"

Kim didn't really look suitably impressed at the moment. "Perhaps so," she murmured. She stared at her wine thoughtfully for a long moment.

"Anyway." Bob waved it off dismissively, turning and then resting back against the rail as he looked to his guest with a quirked smile. "Why so glum, hmm? Oh, I'll admit that my interest originally was less than pure-hearted, but you've managed to pique my interest."

"Don't care," she muttered halfheartedly. "Don't even know why I bothered coming to the competition at all. I just know Jami's going to con me into joining the Pairs event or something and..."

"Mmm, Jami, right," Bob muttered, the faintly-cheerful demeanor darkening to something less than a healthy distaste. He shook it off with an effort, tilting his head and studying her thoughtfully, his original intent being shuffled easily off to the side suddenly in light of... hmm. "So, why do you do it?" he asked softly, "Keep going back and buckling under to someone who started out as a right bastard? I mean hey, people do it all the time I suppose, even if I don't understand the reasoning behind it. Is it the bad boy image? Inner demons? What? There's so much more you could be and do if you just... let it go for all time. Whole universes out there just waiting, but you return to the source of chains again and again..." He shook his head, puzzled.

"I don't have any inner demons," Kim muttered, "I _am_ a demon." She smirked faintly and looked at her wings and claws absently, uncoiling her tail and swishing it about thoughtfully.

"Pfft," Bob replied with a dismissive gesture. "Smoke and mirrors. Real demon wouldn't have even thought about fighting against Chaos when they went ripping out of my home and into yours. Damn gate crashers." He snorted and took a sip of the wine, then went on, "That was just a side note reference anyway, and you know it. The real question still remains, though... why? I can tell you right now that he hasn't changed. No way in hell, or not enough to make him worth the pain and tears, otherwise my little toys would have given up on him already."

"I don't really know, he just always seems like... and what do you mean, I'm some sort of _fake_ demon then?" She blinked in confusion. "I'm a quicksilver demon, one of the highest and rarest types there is..."

"Appearance does not a demon make," Bob replied gently, "Even in your home it's more a matter of evil intent and dark emotions. Getting rid of the last clinging remnants is like trying to get smoke out of the upholstery... takes forever." He shrugged. "As for _him_ , well..." A jester appeared on his shoulder, capering and paying utter attention to its master as it pranced. "These little guys will know when he's turned into a real human being again. I don't torment anyone just for the hell of it. That sort of thing gets left for the type of people who'd follow Chaos."

"... Aviel's coming to the competition," Kim said darkly, frowning deeply. "Jami's a jerk, fine, but it's Aviel that's got me worried. There's something not quite right about her, and I haven't even _seen_ her in months and I can already tell..."

"Everyone's got their shadows, kiddo," Bob replied, smiling faintly as he poked at the little jester and it leapt up to swing from his finger, swinging back and forth for momentum for a moment before launching itself in an acrobatic arc to land neatly on the railing. "Whether they let them out or not is up to them."

"What are you talking about?" Kim wondered absently, drinking her wine and sighing again. Aviel... She didn't look forward to facing her in competition. Last time she saw her, they were trying to kill one another and she got hurled against a wall.

"That one had a rough time of it," Bob replied, idly causing a few things to appear for the jesterling to play around with. "Getting caught up in the web of Chaos and then finding a way out of it was an impressive show of spirit, though. Don't let the past lead you along, sometimes people change and sometimes they don't, it's the actions along the way that make the difference." He gestures toward her and smiled. "Take yourself as an example, does having access to that form make you a demon? Really? Or is it just another aspect of what you are that you've had to fight against and learn to control?"

"I can't say I've always been a nice person since that trip to the Abyss," Kim said quietly. "But I'd like to think I'm damned well not what I was once. But Aviel... It's not just that she's a demon... it's _something else_..."

"Maybe, or maybe you're reading old dislike into it." Bob shrugged lightly, refilling their glasses silently and taking a sip of his own. "Never hurts to keep an eye on things when you've got the hunch to do it, though."

"I fear she's going to win the competition, but that will be only the beginning. I can't accurately predict the future anymore, but I can damned well see when something just isn't right. No, _not_ any old dislike... I never hated her or disliked her or anything, I just didn't want Chaos to..."

Bob chuckled softly. "I think you're not giving ol' Shazzy enough credit. Sure, he uses this as a bit of amusement and let's people do pretty much whatever they want with their wishes, but do you think he isn't keeping an eye out on things that he thinks the people aren't able to handle? That's the thing about Gods, weird and unnatural things happen, but you can bet there's a purpose in there someplace. Even if that means another war breaks out, something's bound to come of it when trouble brews. The little folk are an amazingly powerful thing, turning events around and finding a way to foil the ones who want to do nothing but destroy. So, if you think things're turning that way, watch and see, do something about it. The big guns aren't good for everything, better to let the people do it... and grow."

"No, more like I know Shazmar far too well," Kim said dryly. "And I know damned well that he lets people solve their own messes if it's at all theoretically possible. He _doesn't_ step in and fix things unless things are so going to hell that it'd take a miracle to save it. That just means while I'm not really afraid of the universe being destroyed again, things can get pretty damned bad before he bothers doing anything about it... And hell, _last_ time the universe got destroyed, we Chronomancers had to fix it ourselves..."

"Yup, that's what they do alright," Bob agreed, "Do it any other way and the kids start looking at you every time things start going just a little bit wonky, start crying at all hours of the night, and you never get a moment's peace. Ugh, not worth the trouble!" He chuckled. "So, what you get to decide is whether or not you're going to follow that hunch, see if there's anything really up on that side. If it starts looking that way, then do something about it! Ignore hesitation and all the other crap that tends to keep your High Elkandu from doing anything useful, and step up to bat to level the field a bit. You might be surprised at who and what else might be watching and waiting to do their own part."

"The High Elkandu, for the most part, only really care about themselves, and it takes something pretty extreme too to get them off their butts to do something useful, and generally for their own benefit anyway..." She sighed. "But mark my words. Aviel..."

Bob flicked idly at one bell-tipped point, the jingling muted and somehow forlorn as he took off the cap and tossed it over the balcony even as he returned to the simple homespun garb. "Power to the people, kiddo," he said softly, looking out into the night. "Y'see, something could be done to check and see if your suspicion is right, but would that be the right thing to do? I dunno, maybe just another spin of the wheel that has to be."

Kim looked oddly to Bob for a long moment, almost seeming to stare past him and through him. "Well.. Something is certainly coming... And I'm not sure most people will like it, either..."

"Probably not," Bob agreed quietly, "But then it's the struggle that keeps people on their toes and appreciative of the little things in life that they can lose otherwise. Hell, look at the Elkandu for an example, they hadn't had to worry about anything in ages and got steamrolled right over... and even then most of em didn't care. No, it's the smaller pieces that make the game, not always the queen and king."

"But if you lose the king, the game's over," Kim murmured, frowning again. She sighed and emptied her glass and put it down, staring off at the sky. "And... she knows I suspect something..."

"Ah, but where's the king?" Bob replied. "Not nearly so obvious some times as others, often hidden in plain sight. That game's not so easily won in the real world, where the pieces and the field itself are constantly changing. As for the other..."

He dismissed the momentary quietude and hops up to sit on the railing, a grin speckled by shadow and moonlight surfacing.

"If you had but one thing to ask of the universe, what would it be? Some people seek ever for power, others for this minor bit or that, but I rather suspect something else entire wears heavily on your heart. Just curiosity, mind you." The disclaimer was light enough, but she might well see a flicker of the truth behind the mask.

"I'm no Seeker, but I can feel it of her... it's as though Chaos never left her..." Kim murmured quietly. "Perhaps I am then to be Cassandra speaking of doom and yet nobody ever listening to me now. Sedder and Azale wouldn't believe me either..."

"Tsk, never said I didn't believe," Bob replied, "Any more than I denied my own odd reasoning for seeking you out. It's not my place to do anything about it, though, not within Shazzy's domain. I'll be returning home soon enough, vacation done and back to work watching over my own crazy kids. You're going to have to figure out yourself just what you're going to do, and how to get people to believe it."

Kim stood up and paced pensively, swishing about her tail like a whip. "I don't think it will be quite that simple, but such will be seen. The fates of our universes have become intertwined, and each day I see more and more clearly your galaxy, and the Karzan Galaxy..."

Bob chuckled lightly. "Oh, I've little fear for my own, trust in that. Not only are the kids all crazy and war-mad, but I've reason enough to stir things up as I like while I'm there. Problems abound, but nothing that won't straighten itself out with time. Lots of it." He snorted and shook his head. "Your energy does you credit, however, clearly turning toward the purpose at the heart of what troubles you."

"Suit yourself, if you say so... but I think we ought to get back to the Stadium..." Kim said distantly.

"As you wish, so shall it be." Bob hopped down from the railing. "Though shall I return you alone for now."

He offered a polite bow and returned her to the spot that she'd come from, turning after back to the railing to lean and look out across the moonlit night. Things always changed, for better and worse, that was simply the way of the world...


	8. Paper Ninjas and Time Mages

Kim sighed a bit and meandered out of the niche and back into the Stadium proper, taking a look over the vicinity at the ones gathered there as if expecting to see Aviel appearing at any moment to turn the competition inside out.

Sindri gave her a somewhat alarmed look when he saw her strolling past in demon form, but then recognizes she wasn't the demon he was worried about.

Kim glanced up at Sindri's alarm, pausing for a moment and muttering, "What are you looking at? Have you never seen a quicksilver demon before?"

Really, the form pretty well resembled what Aviel looked like shortly after she got her wings, before the feathers and all showed up.

"Oh no, I've no problem with it. I just thought, by your...scent...that you might've been that other demon that just showed up," Sindri replied. "You look like someone familiar, even."

Kim grunted irritably a bit and replied, "No, damnit, I _fought_ Chaos, and..." She turned to look toward the entrance to the Stadium, tail twitching nervously.

"But you aren't." He smiled and continued channeling mana into an extremely tight weave that resembled a gauntlet. "Yes, you fought Chaos, and here are two of it's minions, one former and the other current. I can't imagine how much that bothers you."

"She's coming," Kim whispered hoarsely, her tail being extremely expressive of her mood, which was quite clearly agitated.

"Who?" Sindri said quietly.

"Aviel," she said quietly.

Fantasia was in good spirits, humming to herself as she settled into a quiet, out of the way area and dragged her laptop out to start poking at it a bit and drawing some things back to memory. She already knew what she was going to do once the competition started, but no sense in not having a little more fun along the way.

"Oh, Aviel's here?" Sindri said, looking around. "I wondered where she got off to."

While Sardill made quite the entrance with the lighting effects and theme music when he showed up, Aviel entered without any particular fanfare, strolling casually in through the main gates as if she owned the place. At least, it mostly looked like Aviel at any rate. There had been some more minor physical alterations since he last saw her.

Sindri looks at Kim and smirked. "Although you seem to be rather... pensive... about that fact."

A little of this, a little of that, Fantasia thought to herself... oh yeah, Bear'd love that... she giggled softly and continues playing about with a bit of design work. "Hmm, hmm, hmm," she murmurs, looking around the place thoughtfully, then slowly set the thing into motion. Nothing more than a shadow at one end of the arena at first, a circle of darkness gliding slowly across the floor.

Kim narrowed her eyes and peered over to Aviel. Anyone with any Seeking whatsoever would clearly be able to see the vibrant blue of Aviel's aura, perhaps it brighter than it was before, perhaps not.

Kim frowned a bit and said, "She..." She shook her head.

Flickers of light appeared high above in brightly-colored streams, seeming to come from the walls themselves at first and then from the darting, fleeting little ships that leap into view. Tiny X-Wings and TIE Fighters bloom into being, veering from the walls to contest the space above, even as a menacing sphere begins to emerge that is the apparent source of the shadow.

Aviel took it all in stride and gave little more than a smirk and a glance toward the show going on, heading off to an unoccupied spot of Stadium to stand in.

"She's what? She's Aviel. Power hungry to the end. I should know," Sindri said with a particularly knowing chuckle.

As the Death Star itself emerged, sparkling lights reflected from its much-different surface, the construction resembling nothing so much as a stylized disco ball. The swirl of small craft were specks beside the brooding presence, some winking from existence and being reinforced from the respective fleets which soar majestically on either side.

Kim was distracted by the light show a bit and muttered, "Man, the matches haven't even started yet and people are already started with the silliness." Kim shook her head. "Tell me you don't sense anything odd about her. Anything at all."

"Aviel? I know she's powerful. I'm not the best of Seekers, but I'm, heh...well..." Sindri shuts up rather quickly and went back to working on his armor.

It wasn't quite the same without Bear to be there making a fool of himself beneath the dancing lights, but Fantasia grinned nonetheless and continues to let it unfold. Little details like B- and A-Wings sprang into being, along with the escort ships of the Rebellion heavies, ooh! And look, good ol' Darthie came out to play in his TIE Interceptor! Too bad the Falcon was running around to spoil things.

Fantasia hummed the Star Wars theme softly as the scene continued to unfold, snickering at the memory of the movie as a number of tiny X-Wings dive into the trench of the globe above and head into their deadly mission. Use the Force, Luke! Hehe.

Sedder golf-clapped at the show. Kim continued to stare uneasily at Aviel. And Aviel... Anyone that looked too closely might think she was still tainted by Chaos, but how can that be? She was cleansed by the angels and the gods were dead and gone. Stranger things yet.

Sindri gave a distracted look over at Aviel, gave a sheepish look at Manasa, and worked faster on his armor. She knew he didn't do anything with her, but she did know what he _did_ do to her...

Manasa raised an eyebrow and said softly, "Something wrong?"

Sindri sent to her telepathically, "You know I'm the one that inducted her into Chaos, so I _do_ feel somewhat responsible for her current...state of affairs. Y'know."

The tiny ships spun away suddenly from the vicinity of the brightly-shimmering globe, the Falcon escorting the X-Wing away and then dissolving in a flare as an explosion emerges behind. Light streamers spilled forth from the dying Death Star, washing away the rest of the ships in a gloriously vivid light show that fell down like rain to touch those below before vanishing silently.

Manasa raised an eyebrow and replied, "What? But, Chaos is gone, isn't it?"

He gave her a helpless shrug. "The presence of that big red hulking thing makes me think otherwise, my dear..."

Sedder showed up by Sindri and said to Kim, "What, are we standing over here now?"

Kim smirked at him.

Manasa tepped back, "What, I know the gods were destroyed, but I'm sure they didn't get all the demons too, right? I mean, there's an awful lot of demons, right?"

Kim said, "Go get Azale over here. I want him to tell me what he sees."

Sedder shrugged and went to nab Azale.

Guess there were advantages to bein' raised a Glass Walker, Fantasia mused, grinning and settling back to watch the last fading glow of the display. Lucas, eat yer heart out... especially for creating those prequels, ew!

Sindri tepped, "Yes, but some of the demons were pretty powerful...I imagine if they were to get followers they could become gods themselves."

Sedder applauded a bit at the special effects, poked Azale in the ribs, and meandered back with him. All these all-powerful mages, and using very Stone Age methods of communication and transportation... walking across a room. How mundane.

"But I certainly hope that _doesn't_ happen, for all our sakes." He looked at Manasa meaningfully.

Azale waved cheerfully at the group and said, "Hi, what's up? Did you require a Seeker?"

Fantasia mused a bit, then decided to pay a bit of homage to the culture of the kitsune, digging out a pad of paper to begin folding a few sheets cheerfully. She'd done a lot of this, so it didn't take long for a few paper dolls to form up and be set aside one after the other.

When she had a half dozen of them, she focused on them a bit and they sprung suddenly to their purpose... the ninja knew their calling! Mayhem! Havoc! Cookie theft!

The six black-clad figures darted from one place of concealment to another, though clearly intended to be seen in bits and flashes. They ran silently, stealing through the forest of legs on their sacred mission toward the vending area.

One decided to take the high road, though, and climbed atop a chair and began leaping lightly from perch to perch, whether shoulder, head, or other handy landing space.

Azale looked at Kim. Kim looked at Azale. Azale grinned foolishly and looked at Aviel. Azale cocked his head and frowned a bit. "Hmm."

The paper ninja taking the high road paused mid-trek, landing lightly on Vicky's shoulder and spying one such item that he'd been tasked to retrieve held in the woman's grasp.

He leapt down to swing from her arm, monkey-swinging along toward her hand and bringing a pause in the conversation as Vicky looks down at the strange thing in puzzlement. It didn't hesitate, though, reaching its quarry and snatching the cookie before leaping lightly to the ground and dashing off.

"Hey..." Vicky remarked in confused protest, then shook her head and returned to the conversation.

"I say, I do believe you may be correct," Azale said to Kim.

"What do you see, Azale, besides the obvious blinding blue glow?" Sindri asked.

Azale said, "I see Chaos."

Sedder said, "Wait. But Aviel was cleansed, on the Shadow of Doubt, before the gods were destroyed!"

Stealth and lightning speed, these were the hallmark of the ninja, and they used them well as they approached the vending areas in search of anything else which might be suited for their purpose. 

One ninja leapt to snare a passerby's hot dog, dashing into the all-concealing shadows with it before its loss was even noted. The remaining four scaled the sheer walls of the machines and set to cracking into the arcane, devious puzzles.

Fantasia giggled as the first returned to her, the shadowy ninja bowing respectfully as it offered the cookie to her. It collapsed back to a simple paper doll as she took it and munched, watching the other troublemakers with muted glee.

Sadly, the group was far too distracted at the moment by puzzling over the mystery at hand to really notice any goodies being swiped.

The ninjas were not terribly strong, but they were determined and agile, and three of the remaining were quickly returned to their creator to bring their retrieved booty.

The fourth, however, seemed to have a mind or trick of its own, latching onto the long trailing scarf dangling from Kid's neck as he walked to get another pizza and climbing nimbly up it. It vanished into one of his pockets silently.

"Well," Sindri said calmly, standing up from his work. "Either one of the greater demons of the Warp gathered enough power and followers to become a new Chaos God, or..." He suddenly looked pale.

Azale shook his head. "No. It looks like Tzeentch to me."

"Well, at least that relieves my theory slightly..." Sindri said.

"Hmm?" Sedder said.

" _She_ might've been a new goddess of Chaos, was what I was thinking," Sindri said. "But how could Tzeentch have survived?"

Sedder frowned deeply. "He did not, as far as I know."

"Did she travel to an alternate timeline and recommune?" Sindri wondered.

"Huh?" Kid muttered, looking down as the pocket tugs with the ninja's emergence carrying a heavier object. His casually-calm expression changed to one of sudden rage as he recognizes the 8 Ball that it was carrying and leapt down to the floor with. "Sonuva...!" he snarled, tearing off after the fleet little shadow.

"Or back in time, it's possible," Sedder said.

Azale said, "... and why would she _want_ to?"

Sindri rolled his eyes. "Power? Hello, this _is_ Aviel we're talking about."

"Maybe..." Sedder murmured. "Somehow I don't think that's all there is to it though."

The pocket-ninja streaked away under a row of seats, stealing away into the shadows underneath to evade the determined pursuer.

Kid was not, however, likely to let that slide, all sense of civility and composure disappearing as he returned to his normal draconic form and tore the seat from above the hiding ninja. His tail swept above the nearest group of people, spikes narrowly missing in its passage.

Fantasia blinked, suddenly thinking that this might not have been such a good idea after all... eep!

"Perhaps she's possessed?" Sindri suggested.

Sedder's eyes glazed over as he looked back and said quietly, "It seems that right after she was cleansed, she was disturbed that the last thing Tzeentch said to her was, 'Even in this, you are doing exactly what I want.'"

Several people ducked and decided to give the dragon all the room he wanted.

Kid's snout descended toward the ninja, eyes glowing with baleful fire, and the diminutive creation obeyed its mistress' sudden urgent command. It raised the ball above it to offer to the clearly-enraged dragon.

That mollified Kid minutely as he delicately plucked the device from the ninja's grasp, examining it closely for any signs of damage, then returned a thoughtful glare to the creature. Magic, he could smell it, and it was tied to... his eyes narrowed and turned toward the direction of the creator, who was looking decidedly alarmed at the development and quickly packing what she'd taken out.

There were some things in the world that just couldn't take a joke, and dragons were clearly one of them! Fantasia removed the flicker of life from her creation and darted from the arena as quickly as fox feet could carry her.

Kid watched her go, then snickered to himself as he shifted back to his normally-held form. This place was weird, he'd give it that. He shrugged, returned the seat to its upright position, and sat back down.

Aviel quietly watched the spectacle, cupping her chin in her hand, her eyes flickering oddly.

Azale said, "I don't think she's possessed... that would generally be indicated by a soul overlay giving a doubling visual effect with alternate divination vision."

"So, what's the deal then?" Sindri wondered.

"I don't know. You'll probably have to ask her that." Azale smirks. "I'm sure as hell not poking around in her head, she's nuts."

"Well, she knows me somewhat...I could talk to her," Sindri said.

"If you really want to..." Azale said. "She might turn you into a toad, though."

"Make sure to kill me if I start foaming at the mouth or, if she turns me into a frog, just shift me back, ok?" He smirked.

"Well, it does look like Amanda's set up a Changing station over there," Azale said, pointing. "But if you went to her you might come back with pointy ears. Not, of course, that that's necessarily a bad thing, but..."

Sindri smirked, standing up. He put on the gauntlets and shoulder pads he'd created so far. They shimmered with a light purplish-blue glow as they shifted to fit him.

Aviel was sitting over down near the Arena, not paying attention to them.

Just to be a showoff, Sindri ensphered himself in a telekinetic field and floated over. "Aviel? That you?" He says, sounding surprised to see her.

Aviel looked up at him and her eyes flashed with a golden glow. "Yes..." she drawled.

He didn't miss a beat. "It is you! How've you been?"

"I am well," she replied.

"You look like you've... mmm... rediscovered Chaos," he said with a thoughtful look.

Aviel grinned faintly. "What is and what was shall ever be."

He rolled his eyes. "Thank you, Tzeentch, for the words of wisdom. Seriously, what's the deal?"

"Oh, I must say that the Bloody-Handed One was quite thorough in his destruction... in that universe at least."

"So, you went to another universe and re-devoted yourself to them?" Sindri asked.

Aviel grinned at him evilly. Judging by the look in her eyes, she was not just slightly mad, she was completely mad. "There is much of the multiverse which you are yet unaware."

"Well, ignorance must be bliss, because I'm quite happy here," Sindri said. "Er... are you here to compete? That's quite a bit of Chronomancy your aura shows..."

"Quite so," Aviel replied. "Hmm, yes, I should sign up now..." She moved to her feet and headed over toward the terminal.

Sindri blinked and floated back to the group. "Note to self, prepare antimagic weaves specifically to counter Chronomancy..." he said with a bleak look on his face.

Sedder said, "Generally a good idea. It's the only way a Catalyst can really hope to defeat a Chronomancer. Put up an anti-time field around you and practice emitting anti-time on a moment's notice."

"I think I should start on that weave right now, to hell with the armor," Sindri said.

"You could also incorporate anti-time into said armor, too," Sedder suggested.

"Hey, good idea. I'd better work faster too."

"How much Time do you need?" Sedder asked.

"Well, it took a few hours just to make these two gauntlets and pauldrons...adding Anti-Time would take longer..." Sindri looked at them. "And I imagine you'll want suits of it too."

Sedder shook his head, and gave a wink, and said, "I say, let's move to a private viewing room, shall we?"

Sindri addressed Manasa, "My dear, do you require added protection for the upcoming events?"

Sedder meandered off to the hallway that said "Private Viewing Rooms". Azale trailed off along with him. Kim apparently wandered off again.

Manasa says, "Uh..." and looked off at Sedder.

"I'll whip something up," Sindri said with a wink and jogged off to catch up.

Sedder picked a room at random, and the minute they were all inside, he closed the door and Sindri could feel a field of Time Magic encompassing the room. "That should be plenty of time for whatever you need to do."

Sindri finished up the armor, a throwback to the plate mail of baroque design he'd known for so long. He enchanted it to be strongly anti-time and to absorb a very hefty amount of mana. He also created a locket in the shape of a heart that had properties identical to the armor.

Sedder said, "I wouldn't use anti-time myself, for obvious reasons... I wouldn't be able to use my own Time Magic then."

Azale said, "I don't think I'm in any events with her but the Free-For-All and Omnimancy maybe..."

Sedder said, "Those are the big ones, though..."

"Well, the mana absorption will be handy for me during the Catalysm event, in case I miss an attack or two, the armor can soak it up," Sindri said.

Sedder nodded in agreement. "Generally not _too_ much of a problem for an inborn Catalyst, your own power should naturally be able to handle it, but sometimes..."

"You can never be too certain," Sindri said. "Do you want anything made that might help a bit?"

Sedder said, "I generally try not to rely too heavily on magic items, myself. Except the ones I made myself." He rubbed a dark blue-black ring on his finger with a grin.

"What, don't trust my craftsmanship?" Sindri smirked. 

Sindri looked at the ring. It was heavily enchanted, primarily based around Illusion but touching on other powers as well. Sindri donned the armor and stretched a bit, resizing it as needed until it was as comfortable as possible.

"This should do," Sindri said. He didn't want to make a helmet, so his long black ponytail flopped down the back of the bluish-purple plate.

Manasa grinned. Azale apparently had dozed off in the interim. Sedder poked him with a finger.

"Need anything, Azale?" Sindri asked.

Azale snorted, choked, sputtered, and blinked, and said, "Wha-wha?"

"Do you want any sort of protective items?" Sindri asked.

"Oh, no, no, that's okay, I'll be fine."

Sindri shrugged. "Suit yourself. Alright. Thanks Sedder," he said.

Azale winked and pulled out a black ninja-suit out of his pocket.

Sedder said, "Well, we'll leave you two alone so you don't have to look at Azale's naked body while he changes..."

"What a grand idea," Sindri said with sarcasm thick as glue.

Sedder and Azale left them alone. Manasa sniggered.

Sindri turned to her with a smile. "It's been awhile since I've given you anything nice, so..." He put the heart locket around her neck. "...may that come of good use."

"Mmm." She leaned over to give him a kiss.

He returned it gladly, squeezing her tight. "It works just like my suit, but it's a bit less bulky. That, and it holds meaning." He smiled warmly.

Manasa grinned at him. "Looks like it sure sucked up Sedder's time field, too. Think it'll work against Aviel?"

"I hope so. Well, if we're both out there, we'll have twice the effect...which means she'll target us first with whatever else she's got cooked up." Sindri drew his thumb across his throat.

"Why do you suppose she'd go seek out some alternate-universe gods like that?" Manasa wondered.

"She's power hungry to no end, I know that much...why else she would want to go _back_ to Chaos, I don't know."

"By being completely and utterly mad?"

Sindri scratched his chin thoughtfully for a second, feigning deep thought, and then laughed. "Yes, there _is_ that."

"I can't think of any other good reason why someone would... where the hell did she find them anyway?" Manasa asked.

"She said to me, 'Your knowledge of the multiverse is very dim.' or something to that nature...apparently she jumped to a different universe to find them and decided to come back."

"With the Interdimensional Bridge, that's highly possible..." Manasa mused. "But I haven't seen timelines being too similar with it. She would have had to have slid with Time Magic to another timeline to get something pretty close."

"Well, you saw that aura..." Sindri said.

"She's certainly _capable_ of Time Travel," Manasa said. "But she didn't say another timeline... she said another universe."

Sindri shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine."

"It's worrying to think they still are out there in some shape or form..."

"It is," Sindri agreed. "I can't imagine what would happen if they were able to come back to this universe... rather, I don't _want_ to think about it."

Manasa agreed silently, leaning back on the couch and looking at the viewscreen that was pointing on the empty arena at the moment.

Sindri sat down next to her, putting his arm around her. "Well, I know you can keep me sane if they come back." He chuckled.

"I don't think I want anything to do with any gods, myself."

"You don't, truuuust me." Sindri rolled his eyes.

"Well, Shazmar's pretty benign, but..."

Sindri created a kinetic wall near the exit and made it opaque with a wave of mana. "Well, they're not expecting us out there anytime soon..." He whispered, nipping at Manasa's ear.


	9. Panicking Pointy-Ears

Having found and dealt with the promise he'd made to Tarna, Melaran retired for a time to the quiet and solitude of the nearby gardens to sort through and consider the possibilities of what he'd seen.

Several interesting potentials had arisen in his contemplation which would doubtless come in useful in the competition ahead, not least of which being a far more proactive and deadly shield to weave of raw magic. There was another aspect entirely to possibly pursue, but that would depend entirely on what Tarna had to say on the matter. He'd work on what he could for now and leave that for a bit later.

He sensed Motion Magic nearby. "Excuse me! I hope I'm not interrupting?" It was Azale.

Melaran held his grasp on the swirl of raw mana swirling around him in a globe, dispelling its fury by degrees until it vanished before turning to look at the newcomer.

"Azale, wasn't it?" he asked, "What can I do for you?"

"Oh, Tarna sent me to find you," Azale said, smiling brightly at him.

At least he was in elf form again and not demonic. Although he was pretty short for an elf, only five foot four inches, this was actually because he was physically only a teenager due to Shazmar screwing around.

Melaran chuckled softly and shook his head. "Why didn't she just send me a message?" he asked rhetorically. "Well anyway, thanks, I'll head back to the arena. Did she say have any other message to pass along?"

"Oh, she said that wasn't necessary, she just wanted me to warn you that Aviel was here and you should practice anti-time fields."

"That's it?" Melaran lifted a brow, "Odd, considering that was already being incorporated into the sphere you may have seen upon your arrival. Odd." He shook his head, "Well, thanks again."

He hadn't really decided on a name for it yet, though the sheer variable energies involved would seem to make naming it a 'chaos shield' appropriate... amusing on another level entirely, as well.

"Well, apparently it was fairly urgent," Azale went on. "Aviel apparently... well... appears to have located similar deities to those of Chaos in an alternate universe and has devoted herself to one or more of them."

Melaran wasn't immune to that news, eyes narrowing as he tersely asked, "What?" Recent experiences led him to believe that the forces known as Chaos were not so unusual or thinly-spread as he had once hoped, but if this woman was taking the same path... "Never mind," he said, shaking his head and taking off at a trot, murmuring, "Excuse me," in passing. He wasn't about to leave Tarna alone with _that_.

Azale shrugged and disappeared. Not his problem to worry about. Well, aside from the fact that Aviel could probably kick his ass any day of the week, but aside from that.

Tarna was currently sitting on the opposite side of the Stadium from Aviel, up by Sheniro, who was playing some Yanni at the moment. That she was clearly alright was sufficient to ease the momentary rush of adrenaline, and Melaran approached quietly, looking over the motley collection of individuals gathered for the events with Seeking in search of any sign that would identify this 'Aviel' to him. Faint blue flickered in his eyes, but began to dim slowly as he stopped nearby.

Tarna looked up at him and said, "Hey. You didn't have to come, but I'm glad to see you anyway." She went to hug him.

The last of the light faded from his eyes as he smiled and returned the hug. "Wasn't about to take the chance," he replied softly, then gestured to the assembled throng. "Who is this Aviel?"

If she had truly sunk to the depths of those foul powers, there might be little that could be done, but he wouldn't know until he looked.

"The mutant freak with the bright blue aura over there by the goulash stand," Tarna said, tilting her head in Aviel's general direction.

Melaran turned his attention that way, refining the now-familiar senses available through Seeking to obtain the best view and greatest information possible. This was not good, not when the 'prize' involved was a free ride from the hand of a God. Bad, in fact. Very.

"Yeah. That one," Tarna said darkly. "I don't like the idea much myself, but she's far more powerful than us and you can't kill people in the Stadium anyway..."

Aviel's aura was the vibrant deep blue of Time Magic, much purer than the blue-green of Water Magic or the pale blue of Wind Magic. Deeper on, there was clear evidence of a strong presence of Fire, Change, Motion, and others as well.

"Who said anything about the stadium?" Melaran replied grimly, seeing much as the others before him had. "And I wonder if Shazmar is going to do anything about what will otherwise be entering his little competition? I don't like this at all... tempted to say to hell with it and get the hell out before it blows."

"No... I'll trust Shazmar to be able to handle it," Tarna said. "Nothing's going to happen to anyone in here at least."

"It's not here that worries me," Melaran replied. "Do you really want to be around when a dedicated and powerful minion of Chaos gets their hands on a wish? There's no doubt in my mind that she will, one way or another, and what she does with it..."

"Be reasonable for a moment," Tarna said. "Do you seriously think Shazmar would grant something that would end up being directly harmful to most people? When Harmony wished for all humans to turn into elephant-moose-goat-emus, he instead turned a few of them into elephants, mooses, goats, or emus, for a couple days, then they changed back."

"Do you think that Chaos is that blatant and stupid?" Melaran countered. "Oh sure, might seem simple and harmless enough, but all it has to be is a step leading to the next step which goes beyond what Shazmar thinks about or looks to. No, I can't trust him on this one, not when I've seen how devious their bastard get can be."

"You have a bit of a point there, especially considering the implication appears to be that she's again following an alternate of Tzeentch..."

"Yeah," Melaran agreed, the color a particularly bad sign in that regard. "The worst of the bunch when it came to being sneaky and underhanded, and with the other things mixed in there... I think this might be a very bad place to be in a very short time. Especially where magic is so prevalent, there's sure to be other ways to end up with a very unpleasant God."

"We should see what events she has signed up for and see if we can make sure she doesn't win one way or another."

Melaran chuckled. "Tarna, she's got abilities mixed in there that neither of us have, what the hell are we supposed to do in those? Even with the ones she has in common, do you really think you or I have the ability to deny it to her? She's going to get that wish, and then..." He shook his head.

"Not necessarily _us_ that has to take her down... and losing one fight won't make her lose the event either," Tarna said. "No, we have to sabotage it somehow."

"That'd take more than even a handful of people, it'd take the whole damn competition!" Melaran replied exasperatedly, "Every single one of them working to take her out before anyone else, without anyone stabbing anyone else in the back. All it takes is _one_ , and you said yourself that the Elkandu are insane and backstab happy."

"Not necessarily," Tarna said. "Most of the events are one-on-one fights, and in such cases, they'd be wanting to win themselves anyway and would be happy for some assistance in doing so. It's just the Free-For-All event that that may be true in, and in that case, people often take out the most serious threat first anyway."

"Great, one on one, even better," Melaran muttered. "Tarna, unless Shazmar himself says so, what can we do to 'sabotage' things? Realistically here, these things have been going on for a while now and you _know_ people have tried to mess with the results. Think that Shazmar hasn't plugged the holes? Not bloody likely."

"Shazmar gives an awful lot of leeway. Hell, he did allow someone to come in with a nuclear bomb one time, recall. And now only nuclear and biological weapons are disallowed."

"That's possible maybe for someone in a fight themselves with her," Melaran replied. "But doing something outside that? I doubt it. We'd have to find something that would be foolproof enough to work _every_ time she goes up against someone _and_ get that person to use it!"

Tarna went over to the nearest terminal to look up what events Aviel was in. "Okay... we've got Fire, Time, Omnmimancy, and the Free-For-All..." She looked over who is in each of those. "Looks like Fire is being dominated by demons, too..."

"Right, like a demon is going to do anything that might not gain them some benefit in the future," Melaran snorted. "Only bloody hope is if Shazmar himself says no, hell no, and doesn't let it go that far."

"Er, hon? The current favorite to win the Fire event is that demon from your universe, Theophantus..."

"Ohhh, delightful," Melaran replied. "I'm sure he'll be just incredibly glad to turn away from the potential involved in reincarnating another of Tzeentch. Even if he _was_ , that's _one_ event out of four and there's still no method of actually 'fixing' the competitions."

"Well, the Free-For-All is pretty well a tossup anyway," Tarna said. ""And sure, there's plenty of ways. Like um... give them guns. Elkandu tend to shun weapons."

"And with motion, she avoids them entirely," Melaran replied. "Remember, Tzeentch did _not_ choose the weak-minded as followers, you can damn well bet that something so simple and blatant is going to be accounted for."

"Uh... Napalm?" Tarna said with a smirk. "Come on, there's gotta be something, we just have to be _smarter_ than her."

"Napalm, Fire," Melaran countered. "Any weapon can be discounted as there's a simple enough counter to just about anything. Hell, with Time in there any weapon is effectively useless."

"Time Magic can't be used in the Fire event, though, just the other three."

Meanwhile, Shazmar was quietly amusing himself watching them freak out. The faint sound of popcorn munching could be heard from nowhere in particular.

"We'd have to arrange something for _all_ of them," Melaran reminded her. "And fire can be used to counter plenty of things as it is."

"Okay, new plan. What if we can somehow sabotage _Aviel_ , rather than giving her opponents some ace in the hole? Someone like Sardill or a lesser Enchanter can give curses..."

"Find someone skilled in Enchantment or Catalysm, and perhaps." Melaran smirked. "Though I somehow doubt that she wouldn't notice something like that, Tzeentch being the one who specialized in magic and all."

"She wouldn't notice if it were Sardill himself, he's the best at what he does," Tarna muttered grimly. "Now, if I weren't afraid he'd just curse _us_ instead, I'd see if I could get him to smack her with something to apologize to me for what he did to me."

Melaran shook his head. "I'm going to make sure that the ship's ready to get the hell out of here when the competition's done. From what you've said about Sardill I doubt he'd be much inclined to help anyway, even if he could be reached."

"Sardill was here, but he kind of left. Don't know where he went. Not sure I care."

"And so it goes." Melaran shrugged. "I'll be back in a bit, just going to check on things and make sure they're ready to go." No way in hell they could keep her from winning in _any_ of those, and all it would take is one.

Tarna smirks faintly, gives a bit of a nod and goes off to find where Sedder and Azale got off to. Maybe they might have some ideas.


	10. Now Hiring: Eldar Gods

Things moved ever round in circles, the beginning and end never really mattering so much in the long run as the path that connected the two and the lives which flowed ever onward throughout. There came a time, however, when all dances reached their final steps, when the music slowed and fell to silence as the lights dimmed and the curtains drew from the boundaries to shadow all which played upon the stage.

An odd turn of thought for the one pondering it, generally one of laughter and light, mischief ever in the making. But there then, too, sometimes things could change. Bob turned away from his melancholy perusal of the moonlit landscape beyond the balcony and dismissed the entire scene from existence with but a thought. Enough. Time to venture forth and address the present turning.

Remaining in his simple peasant's homespun, he blinked from the void which had devoured the stage and set off to find what he sought. A silent flicker announced his arrival back within the Stadium, not near enough to draw attention immediately from most, but surely within short distance of she whom he had come to find. Aviel.

Aviel sat quietly off to one side, nobody particularly bothering her, not milling about in the clusters of people that others seemed to be gathering together in and chatting. Black wings folded across her shoulders, and faintly glowing eyes looked out with an unreadable expression. Bob merely studied her for a moment, repressing a sigh which threatened to emerge for a variety of reasons, then approached her with a light step and a quiet smile.

"Ah, the lovely Aviel I've heard so much about," he said by way of greeting. "Would you deign to spare a few moments of your time for a humble one such as myself?"

Aviel glanced over to him, her eyes flickering brightly for a moment as she looked at him with a dark expression. "What game do you play today, prankster?" she said quietly.

Bob chuckled softly, taking that for assent, and moved to perch himself on the back of a nearby seat with his feet planted firmly and hands clasped between his knees. He looked out over the assembled beings, placing a quiet zone of 'not here' around the two of them that they might not be disturbed for a time.

"Such assumptions!" he protested lightly, "But I'd expect little else from one seeking the lash of a fellow to Tzeentch."

"What is it that you assume I seek, O Fool?" Aviel asked, her glowing eyes swirling somewhat as she narrowed them toward him.

"I assume nothing," Bob replied quietly, glancing down towards her. "In fact that's what I came to ask... what is it that you seek? Forget the corruption, the lash, the anger, the plotting... in your heart of hearts, what is it that you wish? Power? Fame? Fortune? Something more substantial? Do tell, I pray, I'm all ears."

"You know of the power which I seek, and even now the heavens are within my grasp, in spite of a few minor setbacks which I shall overcome..."

Bob shook his head sadly, his reply gentle, "Do you truly think that you're the first to think that you could control those powers? The question to ask yourself is this... Do you control them, or they you?" He merely looked at her and then quirked a grin. "Even in this, you do another's bidding..."

Aviel's face twitched slightly. "It is merely a road to the final prize. One day I shall surpass them."

Bob gestured absently out to the crowd. "Not this day, nor this path. Already there are wheels within wheels to disrupt your ascension along the road you proclaim a desire to follow. That's beside the point, though, since there's something a little more prevalent on my mind than minor plots yadayada. Really, I want to ask you this... why? Why do you seek it so? Do you think it will bring you joy?"

"I know of their machinations against me, and it will not stop me," Aviel said confidently. "Why? Because I can. To prove it is possible. What they all claimed I could not do! When that foolish mensch girl dreamed of being the greatest of all mages, and they laughed at her! Mensch can't be mages, they said... but oh they were wrong..."

Bob smirked. "All over a little playground taunting, then? Here I thought you'd have something more planned or on the ball than _that_. My mistake, clearly." He hopped down from his perch, turning toward her. "If that's the full extent of your reasoning, your goal, then I can promise you now that you'll find nothing more than a blackened soul when it comes to the end. Real immortality? Sounds like you don't have what it takes."

Aviel stared at him silently for a moment. She shook her head a bit and blinked a little. When she opened her eyes and looked at him again, they looked normal, human, and gray-blue colored. "What?"

"If you think being a God is all about power, you're wrong," Bob replied quietly, "Hell, I get people swearing at me all the time and showing no respect, even my own damned kids. Do I do anything about it? No. Have any clue why? Think about it a sec and you might get a glimmer of what the power you're lusting after _really_ means."

Aviel stared at him for a long moment. "It's pointless to try to control people through fear. It proves nothing," she said quietly.

Bob nodded, a quiet smile rising as he settled comfortably back in the seat beside hers. "Got it in one, kiddo, maybe not such a lost cause after all. Take a look at what you're heading out after, though, how did they hold their power, how did they use it? You think their followers loved, respected, or even _liked_ them? The insane, maybe, but is that really what you want to claim as your own?"

"It's also pointless to control people through bribery and gifts," Aviel murmured. "They don't care about you, just the presents..."

"Controlling people isn't worth much at all," Bob replied quietly. "Where's the fun in it, the real thrill, if you can't get them to do what you want of their own accord or through a bit of sleight-of-hand?" He waved a hand dismissively and pffted, "That's something Chaos never understood, and why they were ultimately so weak... real power comes from the boundless energies of the soul and its creative spark."

"You are right, of course," Aviel said softly. "But..." Her eyes began swirling again and she looked down, cupping her face in her hands.

"They always play games, kiddo," Bob said gently, reaching out to touch her shoulder. "Even now. The one who has his hooks in you is already part of a little scheme going on back home, looking to strengthen their power... you think they really give a damn whether one of their pawns gets axed? Not a chance. I do, though..."

He sat back and sighs, looking out over the crowd with ageless eyes for a long moment.

"Forget about it," he continued softly. "Just let it go. Do that..." A spark of animation and life returned with a quick grin. "Do _that_ , and maybe I have an offer youse can't refuse."

Aviel clenched her teeth, as if struggling, clenching her eyes shut. She said almost inaudibly, "I refused them. I turned away from them. But then I realized what had been done to me... I could not control it... I could not control _myself_... I did not wish this..."

"Then let me help you," Bob said gently, "And put you beyond ever worrying about them ever again. It can be done, trust me..." He chuckled quietly. "Hell, even _I_ get a twitch when I say that, but I guarantee that I never fall back on my word," he finished seriously.

"Please..." Aviel managed to murmur before losing control entirely. Her fists clenched tight enough to draw blood from her own palms, and lightning crackled around her for a moment.

"Tsk," Bob muttered, not about to leave that to happen when he can do something about it even if the power that surged _was_ enough to draw the eye of just about anyone within a few miles who could sense it. An old and familiar 'friend', that one, or at least its kin, and it's little real effort to sever the ephemeral ties which bound her to its whim. 

He didn't leave it at that, though, offering a flicker of a grin to whoever might turn that way as he stood and moved to gather her to him. Then... they vanished. The place they found themselves in was featureless gray, mist seeming to coalesce and swirl at the edges of vision and giving the impression of things waiting to be, but otherwise still and silent.

Aviel was trembling, and a little puzzled over what just happened, but she didn't think much on it. She blinked for a moment and looked up at him again.

"Shh, don't worry about it," he soothed gently, making sure she was steady enough and then drawing back. "There's power and then there's Power. I may not have been home then, but neither was that little bastard and he wasn't about to waste anything on one of his toys that could cost him anything..." He shook his head, looking out into the swirling gray. "Nothing can touch you here but me, though, you're safe."

Aviel calmed a little, and said quietly, "Where are we?" She was a little surprised that he could do something like that so easily, that took a circle of angels hours of pain and effort to do, but told herself that she really ought not to be.

"Not quite true, brother," rumbled a voice of elemental fire and earth, the form of Kaela Mensha Khaine emerging suddenly from the mist and looking suspiciously at the intruder and his kin.

Bob smirked. "Oh right, silly me, didn't think you'd be interested in something like this." 

He shook his head, tuning Khaine out for the moment and trying to ignore the naturally-hostile glare directed at them, and smiled at Aviel as he gestured around them.

"I love the Warp, the Ethereal, whatever you want to call it. It's beautiful and has a spark of life to it like almost nowhere else, the raw stuff of _dreams_. But this... this is the real center of things, at least for us. Very few remain who can get here."

Aviel stared at Khaine for a moment, unable to help feeling a wee bit nervous about him. She turned to Bob, and said, "The Void?". She raised an eyebrow.

Bob shook his head, the smile quirking just a bit. "Something older, a bit more primitive and primal, but close enough for what you understand now. I told you there was a way to make you safe from their manipulations ever again, and I had to bring you here to do it."

That statement didn't go without challenge from Khaine, the violent-tempered God of war bellowing as he stalks forward with tremor-causing steps. "Are you _mad_?" he roared, the hellfire furnace of his gaze turning on Bob and the great blade, the Wailing Doom, rising without volition as though to strike him down.

Bob smirked, looking at the other God without seeming phased in the least, then over to Aviel. "See, he's the poster-child for the reason to get a sense of humor...." His eyes narrowed and all humor vanished as he turned his attention back to Khaine, his voice deadly calm. "Or to learn to look before leaping."

A surge of energies rose suddenly between the two, communication on an entirely different level. Aviel unconsciously took a step back, staring wide-eyed at the two of them. Something at a loss for words, she wondered just what in the Abyss was actually going on here. Surprisingly, perhaps, the more violent and powerful-appearing Khaine looked away first, the violent flurry of energies stilling suddenly as he growled and stalked back away.

"Do not say I did not warn you, brother," Khaine intoned with the voice of the forge, "I will not stay for this folly, though I shall assuredly await its flowering to scythe the souls of the damned."

Khaine vanished without further word into the mists. Bob muttered in fond exasperation, watching the other until he disappears, then turned back to Aviel with a grin.

"So, ready to hear my proposition?"

Aviel calmed somewhat as Khaine left again, and said, "I will listen."

"So, ya wanna be a God, huh?" Bob asked, folding his arms. "There just happen to be some openings hereabouts. Whaddaya say?" Short, to the point, and probably shocking... the approach definitely had its strong points.

Aviel blinked at him for a moment and says, "I.. er... what?" She thought she might have to agree with Khaine's assessment of his sanity.

Bob chuckled, waving to summon a couple chairs and a table between them, a silver container holding a chilled bottle of wine.

"Sit, sit," he said.

Bob popped the bottle open and pouring two glasses before doing so himself and taking an appreciative sip. Aviel quietly takes a sit and goes to take a drink without a second thought on that matter.

"Don't get me wrong, I don't go around doing this every millennium, but it suddenly sounded feasible for the first time in a looooooooong span of years. Each universe has..."

He paused, trying to put into words what he knew instinctively.

"Call it a power system, if you want. That's what makes sure that things go as they should, planets and people are born and go boom, that sort of thing. Now, early on, this system develops a number of outlets that it feeds to certain beings like myself to help keep it stabilized and away from a nasty overload."

Aviel listened attentively, trying to follow what he was saying.

"Lately, however," he continued, "The last hundred thousand years or so, a number of fuses have blown out in spectacular fashion, which has left a lot of that strain on yours truly. Speak up if I'm going too fast." He looked at her with a quirked brow.

"Fuses? You mean, like the destruction of the Chaos gods?"

"Yup," Bob replied, nodding, "There's still some loose power lines out there just hanging around and waiting to shock the hell out of somebody when they're not looking. Have to do something about that," he muttered thoughtfully, shrugs, and took a drink, "Anyway. Khaine getting knocked on his ass was another instance, same with my other brothers and sisters that aren't around anymore."

She took a pensive sip and looked up at him thoughtfully. "What happened?" Aviel asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Now there..." Bob pointed to her, easing back in his chair comfortably. "There's an interesting example of a system expanding, changing, and then realizing it didn't have the wires setup right. See, sometimes new ones come into being, due to one reason, race, or another, and the whole thing has to adjust to that change. Well, when the Chaos gods came into being they decided to do their _own_ adjusting." He snorted. "Quite shortsighted of them, really, never even realized that they weren't even a major breaker in the circuit. Anyway." He shrugged. "Crazy, half-assed creations that they were, they went looking for a bigger power supply, and hooked into the lines that were being taken care of by the other older Gods. Made a real hash of things for a while. The Eye of Terror's just a small sample of that."

"So they went and screwed things up." Aviel replied. "No surprise there..." She leaned her elbows on the table. "So what happened?"

"I did what I've been doing all along." Bob shrugged. "Tinkered around a bit, decided what had to be fixed, and did it. Running pretty smoothly now, all around, though it could use a tweak here and there. Which is why you're here, if you think you have what it takes to do the job."

"Which would require... what?" Aviel wondered.

"A touch of spirit, dash of creativity," Bob replied, tilting his head to think on it. "A hell of a lot of patience, and a will the size of a good chunk of the universe. Put aside the technical aspect for now, it doesn't really matter, the heart of it is that I'm offering you all the power you could ever dream of and without the drawbacks associated with binding yourself to something that really couldn't care less."

Aviel sighed a bit and looks down, and twirled a claw around on the table. "But in the end, it's not really about the power, is it," she said rhetorically.

"Not in the least," Bob agreed quietly, "What it all boils down to is finding something that you can be proud of, that you can take pleasure in. Power? Nothing but trouble, just ask Sardill what good it did _him_. Well, if you run across the universe he's calling home now anyway. This is all about a fresh start, a chance to do things that really _mean_ something rather than running around with no purpose, no hope... no soul."

She looked down at her claws, and ruffled her feathers a bit pensively. "I've seen all too well what misused power can do," she murmured. "I barely escaped the destruction of my own universe once, and managed to cross the voice and landed in the Eye of Terror..." She thought for a moment. "I have to wonder why Shazmar or none of those stopped the Nameless Ones that time..."

Bob chuckled quietly. "Why should he? There was someone else around to do the job, so let 'em do it, best damn policy you can have when you can do anything you want."

He sobered, setting his glass on the table and leaning forward to look at her intently.

"I won't lie to you," Bob went on. "This kinda job ain't all it's cracked up to be, it's heart-breaking, generally thankless, and more a pain in the ass than you can _believe_... But..." He smiled. "Sometimes it's really worth it, too, when you see all the people who don't even know or care about you going along and living their lives, making beautiful, _incredible_ things, and then continuing blithely on in the flicker of an eye that's their life. It can be more satisfying than anything else, no drug or power high can even come _close_ to touching it."

"They thought I came back immediately, after getting lost in time at Silthor..." Aviel murmured. "But I did not. I went to Til'raine. I saw the fall of Til'raine. I saw the destruction of Vel'kira. I saw the birth of mankind..." She stared at the table some more with a soft sigh.

"You can see a lot more than that with the right approach," Bob replied, "You wouldn't believe the amount of crap I picked up when I had the opportunity to step back from patching things up with bubblegum and duct tape, the sheer mass of things going on in other places that I hadn't had time to take a look at. There's definite advantages to the gig, that's for certain."

"I don't know how many of them actually realize that the humans were descended from the El'dari," she continued on quietly. "Or how the 'elves' aren't as far off as they might think."

Bob chuckled. "Give people fits here if they had a clue about a _fraction_ of the stuff that's gone on in the past. The way things are connected in the machinery is enough to make their minds explode, if they ever found out, that's why no one touches it unless they're safely grounded."

"Time travel is hardly all people who can't do it seem to think it is, either," Aviel muttered. "It's a confusing headache if anything else and I don't like to do it."

"Just don't expect miracles out of it." Bob shrugged. "There's tricks and tips to anything out there, all a matter of figuring out how things work and... more importantly, having a reason for doing it that goes beyond yourself. Hell," he snorted lightly, refilling his glass. "I didn't even go on vacation without there being a reason behind it, and taking advantage of the opportunities provided."

Aviel nodded in agreement slowly. "Yeah... So um... that other fellow who was here...?"

"Oh him." Bob smirked. "That's my dear brother Khaine, real pain in the tookas sometimes, but what can ya do? Really, it's good to have him back and running around again after he got a bit crunched by Slaanesh. There's some others around too, but most aren't able to come in here..." He shrugged. "Call it an engineer's command decision."

"He didn't look too awfully happy," she observed.

"Eh," Bob waved it off, "That's just him being his usual grumpy self and not keeping an eye on the big picture. See, I watch things a bit more than he does, not just battles and people beating the snot out of each other, but the little things that he can't be bothered with. He doesn't exactly agree with what I'm offering you, but he doesn't really have much say about it when it comes to it."

"Why not?" Aviel wondered, raising an eyebrow.

"Well..." Bob thought about it a second, weighing, then shrugged. "Remember all the things I've said so far? How things work, looking at little details, that sort of thing? Even among Gods there's a hierarchy, can't be any other way when you think about it or you end up with a total disaster. So..." He shrugged. "Point is, even if he's technically my older brother, I've got seniority on him, so to speak."

"I... see. I think," Aviel said, working up her face into a very interesting expression. She sighed again and stared off at nothing.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Bob asked, flickering a double-headed coin to land on the table in front of her. "I know I've laid out a few things that probably don't make a hell of a lot of sense to you, and others that're just a big bite to swallow, so... whaddaya think?"

"I'll do it," she said quietly.

Bob smiled quietly and nods once, "Fair enough, and glad to hear it. Though you still get to decide a thing or two before we go further."

Aviel gave a nod and raised an eyebrow. "Such as?"

"Welllllll," Bob stretched it out, considering it, "Primarily what you want to do. See, normally new spots get opened up now and again for lesser Gods by the races that run all over the place, and nothing new has popped up in a while now. That leaves a couple of options open depending on what you choose... Chaos is still out there, better believe it, and the power lines are screwed to hell and gone. That's option one. The second, on the other hand," he continued, "Is a bit older and a tad more serene, taking the place of one of the Gods who got eaten back at the Fall. One does mean more power than the other." He smirked. "But it's not necessarily the one that some might think."

Aviel said quietly, "I think I've had quite enough of Chaos, thanks. They might think me mad, and I probably wasn't fully in my right mind at the time, after all those canisters, we didn't realize what they were doing to us at first... and then when I did I was too far gone to care." She sighed.

"Then you may just find the serenity of the Eldar to your liking for a while," Bob replied lightly, then chuckled. "If you can keep yourself from strangling them for being so bloody stubborn, aloof, and bone-headed sometimes anyway. Good choice in another way." He grinned. "Means you get to poke around up here now and again when you're inclined, unlike those oddballs Gork and Mork."

"Meh, the Orks aren't so bad. At least they're honest about what they want," she sniggered.

"You think I'm going to let them anywhere _near_ the machinery though?" Bob snorted. "Not a chance. Turn my back five minutes and I wouldn't have a clue what was going on anymore. Anyway..." He waved it off and grinned. "So, one of the old-timers it is then." He tilted his head, just looking in her direction for the moment though his attention was clearly elsewhere. "That there, and that there, and..."

He frowned thoughtfully, sorting through a countless number of possibilities and setting something aside for later, then returned his attention to the here and now.

"So be it," he said softly, inclining his head to her. "Welcome to the club. It ain't Club Med, but it ain't exactly a knock to the head."

Aviel chuckled softly. "Well, I will certainly _try_ not to disappoint, then."

"Don't let Mr. Angry rattle ya." Bob chuckled and stood. "You'll do fine. As to _what_ you do..." He grinned and made an all-encompassing gesture. "That's up to you. Lousy pay, no benefits, and the vending sucks, but there's definitely advantages too, like your job description being whatever the hell you want it to and very flexible hours... especially when you consider tweaking time a bit." He smirked.

Aviel snickered. "Alright then..." She snickered some more.


	11. Foxzilla vs. Ninja Turtles

The lights in the Stadium went up, and a spotlight appeared on the podium in the arena. Shazmar appeared floating by the podium, and he tapped a microphone a couple times. There was annoying feedback that pretty much made sure everyone was awake and paying attention.

He cleared his throat. "Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, neuters and hermaphrodites, to the Eighth Septenniel Grand Elkandu Magic Competition. I hope you've all had a good past seven years--" There were titters of laughter through the crowd at his joke. "--and I hope this to be the funnest competition yet! Without further ado... let the games begin!"

Let the games begin? Silly Shazmar, they'd been going on for days already! More than half the fun was playing to a crowd, something Fantasia was sure that Sheniro agreed with her on, considering he'd been constantly keeping the tunes going throughout. It'd been tough to skip out on those performances, but other fun was to be had in other ways... mwahaha! She flipped open her laptop and went to work.

Kid blinked and looked up as the show began, then yawned and put away what he'd been working on all the way throughout. Might as well watch some of the action that he wasn't involved in. Always interesting to see what people did with magic and maybe get an idea or two from it.

Vicky, having remained alert and watchful of events, curious as to the undercurrent which had been flowing through a number of the people present. She supposed it was something of potential interest, and she munched idly on a cookie as she continued to watch and wait. Only one event was of particular interest to her. Anything else was merely studying the oddities of the energies and peoples of this universe.

Melaran, on the other hand, was not nearly so sedate even if his general appearance might suggest it. He was fully armed and armored, not that unusual for him, but a light tapping of fingers at his thighs indicated inner agitation as the games begin. Chaos might surely unfold this day, and he would be watchful and wary of it, fully prepared to make certain it didn't consume those of his party.

"And to start the events out with a game, I call on Scregor and Goldentail, in the Illusion event!"

The podium vanished, and one dwarf with an axe and a kitsune appear in the arena.

"Hehe!" said Goldentail, bouncing lightly.

Scregor then transformed into a large golden dragon.

"Aw, crap," Goldentail said.

A puff of fiery breath quickly incinerated the little fox.

Ewwwwww... Fantasia thought to herself, muzzle wrinkling, then shook her head as she went back to settling things up, the reasoning for _avoiding_ the combat illusion tournament made clear _right_ there. Eek. She grinned, turning things loose at last, a shadow crawling out from under someone's seat near the vending area and taking on the form of an ape of some sort... with a face that only she'd recognize, Jezzy's.

The events proceeded to work their way on in short order, schedules for each event having already been posted days ago available at terminals around the stadium so that people would know when they were about to compete so that they didn't get teleported in while having sex or something. It had all been carefully arranged to generally have no more than one match of each event each day, and for people to fight in only one match a day, unless someone was silly and signed up for all of them or something absurd like that.

The ape made its way to one of the concessions areas, sure to cause as much disruption and consternation as it could along the way, and peered at the machines. Choosing one, it climbed nimbly to the top of it and proceeded to claim it as its own with much screeching and threatening gestures to anyone who approached as it hung from the machine. 

The progression was inevitable, though, and small biplanes could be heard buzzing as they took off and curved their way in that direction to began harrying the beast. It swatted at the pesky insects, snarling all the while, but the movie's ending had to be paid homage to as it soon tumbled to splat on the ground below. Unlike the original, however, a circle of stars appeared over its head as it sat up, blinking in confusion.

On the second day of events, there was an old man with a long gray beard and gray robes wearing a glowing hourglass present standing silently nearby watching the matches.

Continuing the theme, Fantasia merrily returned the manic monkey the next day, managing to place it back in a semi-convincing manner. This was a multi-part act, after all, and would continue movie after movie after... wow, she realized she'd watched way too many old monster movies!

The fearsome creature bared its fangs as it rose once more, snarling at anyone nearby... but wait! Fear not, for the earth has not been abandoned to this hideous evil without protection! A low thrum emanated nearby, building toward a crescendo as a hole appeared to open in the ground... sound compliments of nifty pre-hidden speakers, hehe! Water could be seen far below, but what arose from its cold depths...?

Green scales and jagged spines slowly emerged from the hole along with a distinctive roar, the legendary creature from the past leaping out to engage the destructive ape with radioactive fire and claws! One small detail was amiss, though, in that the creature had a fluffy white fox tail instead of the normal scaled one... Go go Foxzilla!

The battle progressed in epic fashion, teetering this way and that, but was the end ever really in doubt? Foxzilla saved the day and struts jauntily back and forth along the area, doing the occasional dance step just for variety.

The old man appeared to have been accompanied by a flower pixie who was highly amused at the spectacle Fantasia is putting on, and went to dance about it, flowers sprouting everywhere.

Foxzilla, of course, only took this as its due and strut even more jauntily in reply... at least until the surprise attack came! Small vehicles rumbled out from underneath several chairs, tiny radar dishes and missile launcher spitting lasers and fire at the unsuspecting leviathan. Come on, who didn't watch the movies to see the city and its defenders get trashed anyway? Hehe.

It was just as well she was entertaining them anyway, as apparently there was an Illusion match going on in the arena. It was a bit hard to tell, though, because nobody could _see_ the competitors.

Fantasia had a whole slew of monster flicks to draw on, adding her own distinctive twists along the way of course... like Gamera, the flying turtle who'd had a bunch of movies of his own. Now, just what would he be like with his own crew of four mini versions of himself who were _ninjas_?!? Of course, the multi-colored headbands with the single letters on them kinda give away the origin, but all part of the fun.

Not that she didn't pay attention to the matches, but there was plenty of entertainment to go around. Besides, when you get too much illusion spam it kinda defeated the purpose of the art!

It probably said something about Torn Elkandu when gods could blithely stand around and nobody really cared. It was also kind of funny, that in spite of the fact that the Elkandu Universe had a whole bucket of gods, Shazmar seemed to get all the attention. Probably because the others tended to stay out of the spotlight for one reason or another.

Shazmar announced an Earth match next, apparently an elf named Kalixia Talenorn versus the pixie who had been dancing around earlier, who was apparently "Sushelbee, the Flower Goddess", from Serriya. The arena proceeded to erupt in numerous floral decorations.

Fantasia remained at top form as the time passed, smoothly shifting from one monster for Foxzilla to destroy after the other in a well-choreographed display. She'd had several days to think this through, more than time enough for any Ragabash... in fact, enough time that any sane shapeshifter from her own home would've found a very deep hole to hide in long before.

The earth match provided a bit of impromptu inspiration, though, and she grinned as a mutant version of a daisy found its way mysteriously out of the fighting area to confront Foxzilla. Its deadly pollen staggers our monster hero, but Foxzilla ended playing a round of 'loves me, loves me not' with the felonious flower.

Once Kalixia introduced Sushelbee to the fact that some flowers had thorns and won, the losing pixie came back out toward the man with the hourglass again.

"And what have you learned here upon this day, Sushelbee?" he said cryptically.

The pixie snorted and fluttered off. The man with the hourglass disappeared.

"Every rose has it's thorn..." Fantasia sung softly, then grinned and continued humming softly to herself as she worked energetically to keep the entertainment alive. Wishes-smishes, there was a crowd, an _audience_ out there, and there was nothing in this life that she craved more.

Vicky was, quite frankly, perplexed by the wide range of activities occurring. Humanity had been curious enough, yet they had not possessed the attunement to the energies which these beings so clearly enjoyed devoting their time and effort to. It was understandable in one regard, however, as the purpose of events was much the same as a carnival.

Someone turned up in Vicky's general vicinity carrying an ice cream cone. Since Suzy wandered off to do something else, at least the technobabble zone had dissipated.

"Well, hello there," the human woman said. "You look normal. At least compared to all these freaks. I'm Jenna Jordan."

Vicky looked at the newcomer appraisingly, "Greetings, Ms. Jordan. I would not say that this was quite so abnormal as..."

She looked around a moment as Foxzilla leapt on the back of Gamera and gnaws at its shell, stomping mutant turtles beneath its feat.

Vicky conceded, "Alright, I suppose it would be considered abnormal in any other space besides this."

"Yeah, with all these crazy mutants and elves and furries and whatnot, it seems like there's so few actual _humans_ ," Jenna said. "But do please, call me Jenna. I have twenty-five sisters, well, they aren't all alive anymore, but still..."

"As you wish, Jenna," Vicky replied easily, tilting her head briefly in question. "Twenty-five siblings would seem somewhat excessive, even by certain religious factions of old Terra. Do you refer to cloned relatives, or biologically-created?"

Jenna gave a nod. "Yeah, we're all based off the DNA of Abram Jordan and Sarah Pratt, but our mother died before any of us were created. Dad's still around somewhere or another, though. Probably back at home somewhere causing trouble as usual."

"That would certainly seem to be a far more practical approach," Vicky replied. "Notwithstanding the obvious physiological strain on the maternal parent, genetic defects are far simpler to identify and eliminate by similar processes."

"Oh, well..." Jenna said. "They were kind of experimenting with us. They were attempting to create the 'perfect being' and all. There were... quite a lot of 'failures'. I was considered a failure too, but only because I'm biologically sterile, and not for any particular defects. Not that I especially _mind_ that."

"Reproductive ability is rarely considered an issue with the advent of any sort of modern science," Vicky replied. "Particularly as you are one of a series of cloned individuals, I find it highly illogical to arbitrarily label that as a reason for 'failure'. Strange, but then there are many things which are still unfathomable to me regarding human nature."

"It was because they wanted to create a viable breeding specimen in order to propagate a perfect race, or some other such Nazi ideas," she snorted, rolling her eyes. "I'm not sure what the point really was, aside from my innate psychic abilities. Most of their modifications could have been approximated after birth with cybernetic implants. Which still provided drastic improvements over what they created."

"Directed eugenics programs have always found themselves with a difficult road," Vicky replied. "Beyond the inherent moral and ethical issues involved are the complexities of the genetic modifications required." She blinked, then smiled with faint embarrassment. "I apologize, I have found myself inclined to continue at lengths on topics which are doubtless not of great continuing interest to others. Well enough that you yourself have experienced no difficulties, appearing in excellent health and ability, and no more need be said of it."

"Heh. Not a worry, I'm used to it, having grown up around Cybions," Jenna said. "It's slightly disconcerting to be three years old and have some adults talking in front of you about your own physical and mental characteristics. Meh on them for talking like I wasn't there, and for assuming that a mentally-enhanced toddler couldn't follow what they were saying."

"Never underestimate human capacity or ingenuity," Vicky replied, her expression smoothing once more. "Though perhaps I should expand that to include the various sentient species, even if it has been my experience that humanity as a whole has exerted a greater influence on the universe than any other I have encountered. Such a fragile, wonderful thing is humanity."

"Okay, so I did get a bit carried away on the cybernetics and drove myself into debt over it and ended up being more machine than human, but whatever..." Jenna smirked, poking at herself a bit.

"You are fortunate indeed in your origins," Vicky replied. "While humanity has indeed had a definition for cybernetic organisms since the early days of science fiction, still were they considered human from the beginning. Mankind's creations have not always been so, however, and are left with a great curiosity as to the very nature of the difference."

"There's a difference?" Jenna said. "I don't see any fundamental difference between shoving together bits of DNA, and tossing together metal and computer parts."

"The difference is startling, in truth," Vicky replied. "The chemical processes and experiential data accumulated and assimilated by the human mind make for a far more chaotic entity, unpredictable in many ways. A mind constructed of machinery will follow very strict logical parameters, and find the depths of the biological mind to be often incomprehensible."

"I wouldn't be so certain about that," Jenna said. "There were some Cybions on a remote planet experimenting with luminite-based androids..."

"Yes, I was speaking with Suzcecoz at length regarding the possibilities inherent to the luminite power source available here," Vicky replied brightly. "The advantage over standard fusion power would be quite substantial, though examining it from the perspective of comparing it to psychotronic circuitry the benefits would be minimal at best, if not a degradation."

"The thing was, they were apparently very difficult to program. With luminite being used for their circuitry and computer-brain mechanisms, they were extremely... erratic. They ended up shutting down the project after one of the androids flipped out about being experimented on and killed the head researcher."

"They clearly did not consider the necessity of inhibitory programming before activation," Vicky replied. "Such programming is not necessarily needed for all mechanical intelligences, but it is certainly a wise precaution when considering the enhanced abilities which are generally the purpose of creating them in the first place." That was something which bothered her a bit, in fact, as her own appeared to be gone.

"That's the thing. They tried... It just didn't work properly. They said it was something to do with the interaction with the luminite matrix providing inherent instabilities, and resolved to use luminite for a power source only and not for the circuitry itself anymore."

"Probably quite wise of them, then," Vicky responded. "To continue an experiment which has proven dangerous beyond acceptable means to its creators would be foolish. The Cybolos were an excellent example of this, in fact, combining the physical durability of a Bolo with the implantation of a biological mind. The results may have been skewed, however, as most were conscripted or convicts rather than volunteers."

"Oh well _yeaeah_ that would do it," Jenna said, rolling her eyes. "Sheesh..." She shook her head. "They didn't stop Project Jordan even after numerous horrible failures though. Haley, for instance, exploded and blew up an entire lab with out of control pyrokinetics... Ursula tried to take over the station and was killed by those trying to protect it..."

"Clearly a most unstable experiment," Vicky replied. "This has not yet dissuaded those in control of the genetic material from continuing their progress, or lack thereof?"

"Penelope was insane and committed suicide by flying into a neutron star. Irene was delusional and they locked her up for observation. Emily... oh god, Emily, she was heartless, cruel, cold, incapable of proper emotions. And Felicia, her emotions were far too strong for her to control and she became a hermit on a remote planet."

"That would appear to be a high percentage of critical failures," Vicky replied, frowning slightly. "There would logically arise a point in time where the clear consequences of continuing the experimentation would outweigh the potential benefit, and turn to another project in pursuit of this ideal biological entity."

"There were some relative successes in the batch, at least. Beatrice had some cosmetic deformities, but she didn't let that stop her from becoming an excellent warrior. Marian was a peaceful healer, would never hurt a fly. Rebecca, Xena, Kelly, Denise, Vanessa, Nadia, Sarah, they were all more or less stable, if a bit reckless some of them, but from Kalli's genes that's to be expected..."

"Human persistence in the face of unfavorable odds, no matter the reasoning or pursuit involved, has always perplexed me," Vicky replied. "Probabilities on the order which the Brigade would consider unacceptable and seek another alternative are oftentimes considered perfectly reasonable to the biological mind. One aspect of that being, of course, the strange concept of a 'hunch'."

"In my experience, 'hunches' are generally the result of untrained psychic potential which every living being has to some degree or another," Jenna said. "Well, the latest one, Zillah, doesn't seem too bad so far. They're calling her a complete success thus far, but then, she's only twelve right now."

Vicky smiled, remembering conversing with more than one child as part of a propaganda campaign aimed at easing humanity's mind regarding the Bolos. "May it continue to be so, then," she replied. "The young are often much simpler to understand than their grown counterparts, their motivations and rationales not developed to the degree of the adult. They are a refreshing experience, in many cases."

"Yeah, well, they've got her training round the clock just about, they've got the best pilots, soldiers, and psychics in to train her. Apparently, they want to do this one _right_." She smirked.

Off down in the arena, a centaur was fighting with a skaven. Apparently the centaur's strategy was conjuring many pamphlets and killing his opponent with paper cuts. It wasn't working too well. Although suffocating his opponent under them might be a viable alternative.

"So young?" Vicky asked, then shook her head once. "Truly the strategic situation must be far more dire in that sector than my brief perusal has revealed, to subject children of that age to such highly-intensive training is unusual in human culture."

Fantasia winced as the battle in the arena shaped up, torn between outright laughter and squeamishness at the memory of an old Lovecraft-based movie that did something similar.

It jogged her memory, though, and the current monster-fight between Foxzilla and the monstrous laser-spitting Rodan shifted to a battle of blooding by the foul bird. At least until Foxzilla got a hold on it and began impossibly to start plucking the scaly monster like a chicken. Feathers fluttered out all over the place with mad abandon.

Jenna said, "It had been. With the war over now, I'd hope they've eased up on her a bit, though. We'd been at war with the Karzan Empire for centuries, and then Chaos showed up..."

Vicky looked at a feather drifting nearby with puzzlement, the oddity drawing a moment of attention away to look at the surroundings as she recalled what she had retrieved regarding the Karzan and Chaos from the Eyes of Truth.

"Ah!" she replied, turning her attention back to Jenna. "Your origins are in the sector most recently infected by the Enemy. The intensified training is far more sensible in that light."

Jenna gave a nod. "They made the war with the Empire that much worse, since so many rebels decided to join them, and pretty much left those who didn't want to join either Chaos or the Empire up a creek, so to speak. But we survived, one way or another."

"The strategic details involved in interstellar conflict are no simple matter," Vicky replied. "So a most remarkable accomplishment indeed. This Empire has been changed drastically in recent times, has that affected the socio and economical dynamics of the situation in equal measure?"

"I would imagine so, but I haven't been there since then and haven't bothered logging onto the cybernet to check for updates. Talia will make a much better Empress than the Usurper Emperor."

Vicky twitched mentally at the mention of a new source of information, always alert for additional channels of exploration and intelligence regarding potentially hostile environs. "The cybernet?" she asked politely.

"Oh, yeah, it's the network most of the Cybions with communications implants use," Jenna said. "Nowhere else in the galaxy will you find a more complete collection of porn and ethnic jokes." Jenna rolled her eyes.

"Ah, much like the internet of the late twentieth century then," Vicky replied. "Though perhaps on a broader and more sophisticated scale than was available to the technology of the time. Still, such frameworks do provide a vital communication and social link for the societies which use them."

"Yeah, pretty much," Jenna said. "Some important stuff _does_ get passed along there, if you can sift it out of the Harry Potter fanfilms and offers for cybernetic genital enhancement."

"Is this system a general-purpose and open one, or dedicated to the Cybions you've spoken of?" Vicky asked, idly searching through the accumulated data for references to this faction and finding their general tenets to be unpalatable on a number of levels.

"It's pretty open," Jenna said. "Free exchange of information and all that. No quality control whatsoever."

"What frequencies do the implants required function at, then?" Vicky inquired further, "I am always seeking other avenues of information beyond what are immediately known, particularly in the current setting. To quote an ancient Terran author: A stranger in a strange land."

Jenna pulled out a datapad from somewhere and tapped it and hands it to Vicky. "There you go, there's the specifications for it."

Vicky scanned the data swiftly and handed the pad back to Jenna with a smile. "Thank you. It would appear to be of no difficulty to access it without the implant, as the protocols are within standard operational parameters, most convenient. It should prove interesting to view what the sentients of the Karzan consider relevant or newsworthy."

Jenna sniggered in amusement, thought about that a bit more, then sniggered some more. "Oh... yeah... I'm sure you'll find it.. very... interesting..."

Vicky looked at Jenna, clearly perplexed. "Was there something I said which you found amusing? I am of course aware of the concepts of humor, but the subtleties of it often elude me."

"Oh, just the fact that what they apparently consider relevant or newsworthy generally involves things nobody actually cares about. Sheesh, in the middle of a war for centuries, and aside from the occasional reports on the official sites, you'd never know it."

"Ah," Vicky replied and nodded. "This is not an unusual phenomenon, as such venues are most often pursued for escaping the harsher realities. Human nature at its most complex and inscrutable."

Jenna chuckled. "No doubt. And so the Glyphans wrote untold numbers of bad novels, bad songs, and bad poems...."


	12. Foxzilla vs. the Harlem Globetrotters

The competition had started. Events were going on. And Foxzilla was terrorizing the vending machines.

Over in the arena, a minotaur was duking it out with Harmony, who got a kick out of turning herself into a red-cape-golem.

Intermission time, Fantasia decided, leaving Foxzilla to strut and preen on its own as she headed to the vending area to retrieve some snacks. She patted it on the head in passing, giggling as it snapped at her, and collected a bit of this, that, and the other before heading back to her seat to watch and continue the show.

Sindri watched from somewhere. Theophantus did as well.

"I would assume that these Glyphans and their artistic nature would compare well with certain factions of contemporary artistry in the twentieth century and later renaissance periods following reconstruction," Vicky replied dryly, inferring less than a stellar impression from Jenna's commentary. "Thankfully such periods are generally quite short."

Fantasia settled happily back in, munching, and considered one of the freakier recent contestants thoughtfully. SMOG MONSTER! How could she forget that creepy, shapeless blob?!? She set about setting the scene for it, an oily black smoke seeming to pour out of the vending machines to coalesce into the nightmarish newest competitor for Foxzilla.

Sindri's eyes watered trying to watch Harmony fight.

"Generally," Jenna said. "And there's always some purists who try to make music that _doesn't_ involve juxtaposing the sounds of a toilet flushing and a piano falling down the stairs."

"Harmony will definitely win." Sindri said, rubbing his eyes. "I can't imagine anyone would be in their right mind after looking at her that long."

Then, Harmony finally won the event in a rather messy manner. They got teleported out.

Shazmar said, "For the next match, I call upon Theophantus and Vanankyte Venari to compete in Fire!"

"Oh joy, something to do!" Theophantus said. He stretched his wings and flexes, heading in.

"Personally I have always found the classical compositions of composers such as Tchaikovsky and Bach more soothing than the later period performance art," Vicky replied, "Humanity is ever-boundless in their creativity and appreciation of purported art, however." She shook her head, the concept a little more on the bizarre side than some others.

Fantasia grinned as the fire event came to the plate, determined to turn the heat up a bit as the smog monster coiled menacingly and taunted the enraged Foxzilla... only to be blasted again and again by radioactive flame. Sucks to be the villain, don't it pal? She snickered and continued on to the next film... oooh! A favorite! Mecha-Foxzilla!

Theophantus held his right hand out in a clench, focused, and Kharnager appeared in it, twisted runes blazing a dark red.

Jenna nodded in agreement. "Yes, I generally preferred music with a tune I could follow or lyrics I could understand..."

Theophantus got teleported into the arena, standing across from one completely naked female red demon. Vanankyte grins at him evilly.

"You may begin!" said Shazmar.

"Good luck to you, sir." Theophantus extended his left hand to Vanankyte.

"Aye-aye," Vanankyte said, lifting her hands and surrounding herself in a shield of flame.

Theophantus stepped back, a slight dark red glow beginning to radiate from him.

Vanankyte spreaded her wings and took to the air, a trail of flame blazing in her wake.

"This is my first time in this arena, I do hope it's as fun as everyone says it is," Theophantus said, also going airborne with a heavy downbeat of his wings.

"Oh yes, quite. If you like blood and fire." She grinned evilly, darting in quickly to slash at him with her claws, but she failed to actually hurt him and left herself open for a counterattack.

He took a broad swing with Kharnager. "Music to my ears," he said with a jagged grin.

"Martial music, is another favorite, of course," Vicky replied to Jenna. "But I could suppose that the regular occurrence of similar themes in all aspects of my training and campaigning would have some influence on that. There are limits, of course, as there are samples of Kcinji martial music which resembles nothing so much as insects at excessive volume levels. Far less than enthusing."

Fantasia hummed to herself as the little golden Mecha-Foxzilla emerged from one of the vending machines as though it were built inside a hangar within. Metallic and scaly went right at each other, blasting with fire and brute force, as well as other weapons for the robot version. A very energetic fight overall, far more so than the original special effects budget allowed for.

Vanankyte tried to dodge out of the way, but ended up taking a nasty gash on her hip. She darted back out of range and grinned at him. "Mmh, yeah..."

Just to probe, Theophantus chucked a decent sized, non-explosive fireball at her.

Vanankyte was quite attentive, and easily deflected the fireball and sent it flying back toward him again.

Theophantus tried to move out of the way, not too worried about his own powers hurting him though.

Fantasia borrowed from some various anime as her little sideshow continues, Mech-Foxzilla splitting suddenly into multiple pieces that streak away on divergent courses and then come screaming back to blast poor Foxzilla into a blackened, blinking monster. She snickered though as she borrowed from another source entirely, the recombining elements of the robot ending incomplete as Foxzilla snarled and stomped on a legbot.

Mech-Foxzilla snarled as its opponent melted down the offending limb, hopping on one leg, and a strangely-familiar, jaunty tune could be heard wafting from hidden speakers. The source became ever more obvious as Foxzilla ripped off limb after limb and melts them down until only a torso and head remains laying on the ground. "T'was only a flesh wound! Come back here and I'll gnaw on your ankles!"

Foxzilla just looked at the misshapen monster, then melted it down into a pool of slag.

The fireball struck Theophantus in the leg, although the damage it caused was rather minimal. Vanankyte's fiery shield swirls around her, and she goes to close in again.

"Coming in for more?" He took a deep breath and belched forth a huge wash of Warpfire at her.

Vanankyte dodged but was caught in some of the blast. She shook off most of it but staggered for a moment. She darted in quickly with her claws, this time managing to make some purchase, her razor-sharp claws digging into him.

"Mmmmm..." He winced slightly as the claws hit. "Why don't we get a little more personal?" He said with a snarl, attempting to grapple her in midair.

Foxzilla, ever the entertainment-minded, waited for the slag to cool a bit and then peeled it up off the ground to mulch the stuff in its claws. What emerged might charitably be called a ball of some sort, a suspicion which is cemented as strains of 'Sweet Georgia Brown' winged their way through the speakers and the monster began to perform improbably basketball tricks with the absurd object.

Jenna did her best to try to ignore the spectacle going on on that side of the Stadium.

Theophantus grabbed a hold of Vanankyte, and she didn't manage to squirm out of his grasp, and failing that, she reached around to claw at him some more, grinning broadly. She was clearly enjoying herself muchly.

Theophantus went into a blazing nose dive toward the ground, Vanankyte being his cushion between him and the earth.

Vicky recognized the tune and glanced over that way, blinking and then laughing lightly at the antics of the creature, much as recordings of the Harlem Globetrotters had entertained people for a period of decades in early Terran history. Someone clearly had a familiarity with the topic, and she was mildly curious as to the source... though the mutation of the monster would surely prove some clue.

It was clearly a halftime show, as other shadowy forms wearing brightly-colored red, white, and blue garb joined in Foxzilla's antics. They were, by nature of their more flexible form, more suited to the purpose, and proceed to perform an old routine that Fantasia remembered from what seemed _ages_ ago.

Jenna smirked faintly over at the 'entertainment' and said, "Well, somebody's certainly enjoying themselves."

Vanankyte managed to twist around a bit, but remained too well locked in his grasp to get away.

Theophantus grinned wickedly at her, and, because it was so available, took a big bite out of Vanankyte's forearm.

Vanankyte bled all over. She focused her attention on channeling magic this time, searing hot flames erupting from all over her skin.

Theophantus beat his wings to increase his dive's speed, the flames rippling across him.

The ground came up far too fast. He did not manage to deflect most of the impact into Vanankyte, and they both ended up broken and bleeding on the ground.

"Indeed," Vicky replied to Jenna, shaking her head once with a grin. The things that humanoids would do in pursuit of entertainment forever fascinated her. Some she agreed with, of course, and others were still just bizarre... she could appreciate the skill apparent in the making of this particular one, however, and recognized what the humans would call an 'artistic touch'.

Foxzilla played the game for a bit, even as the shadowy Globetrotters turned to a game of keep-away from it. That tolerance ended soon enough, though, as the monster ended the game by eating the ball _and_ the shadowy players. That seemed to remind it that it's hungry, and it went to climb up one of the vending machines. Nothing really looked _good_ though! Whatever happened to a normal ol' whale sandwich anyway?

Grass seemed to grow on the ground nearby as the monster climbed, a much more pastoral scene emerging with a fawn emerging shyly into the sunlit glade. A little rabbit and skunk went scampering about playfully, the young deer joining in their game... but what was this? Fantasia grinned maniacally as a shadow fell over them and Foxzilla stomped them flat. Bambi meets Foxzilla!

Jenna just blinked for a moment and turned her attention back to the dueling demons.

Theophantus groaned. "Mmh...I think that...was a rib or two..."

He puts his palms on the ground and growled. The floor of the arena near him began to turn cherry red.

Vanankyte murmured, "Barbecued ribs are tasty." She crawled to a half-sitting position, one wing broken and bent in a manner it was clearly not meant to bend in.

The floor around Theophantus' hands was now white hot. He rolled to his back, wincing as he did, scooped out a chunk of the molten goo and slung it at Vanankyte.

Vicky blinked and watched the changing scenario with clear amusement, repressing further laughter as she turned her attention as well to the two combatants. Strange creatures, obviously classified as demonic in origin, no doubt explaining their affinity for fire.

Foxzilla was still hungry, though, and looking a bit grumpy as a Volkswagen Beetle swerved crazily out from under the shadows of a nearby seat and came screeeeeching to a halt. A host of brightly-clothed and painted clowns came tumbling out, obviously drawn to cheer the day of the poor creature! They rolled and enacted all sorts of zany acrobatics, dancing as Foxzilla watched them with an unreadable expression.

Theophantus' aim wasn't particularly good, but a few drops landed on Vanankyte and caused her to make an expression somewhere between grinning and wincing. She crawled over toward him, quite fully aware that her chances appeared rather slim at the moment and that would probably allow him to kill her more easily.

The clowns built pyramids, they squirted water from plastic flowers at each other, they went bumbling about with their giant shoes. All the usual clown stuff. Foxzilla didn't seem terribly impressed, however, looking grouchier and grouchier as the tomfoolery continued until the poor monster couldn't take any more. It ate them, along with the car they arrived in for variety. A strange look appeared on its face after, though.

Foxzilla sticked out his tongue in disgust and dug a sign out from behind its back, scribbling on it for a moment before planting it in the ground nearby. It read: "Warning, do not eat the clowns! They taste funny."

Fantasia gave that a moment to sink in, then triggered a rim-shot through the hidden speakers.

Theophantus looked up at her and lay back, closing his eyes. "Coming to...finish the job?" he asked, still maintaining that ever level voice of his.

His head rolled to look at his blade, lying just out of arms reach. Kharnager disappeared in a puff of purplish sooty smoke. It reappeared in Theophantus' hands. He looked at Vanankyte and grinned.

"To win or to die, I will not cower and flee," Vanankyte said, grinning back at him.

Thankfully for Foxzilla, the half-time show was over, a new threat emerging in the form of Mothra! Anything to get the taste out of its mouth, even if it meant little fuzzy bits stuck in its teeth, all to the good. Just for good measure, in fact, Foxzilla held the wimpy monster under one foot, plucked off a wing, and used it to floss out some bits o' clown.

Theophantus sat up slowly. "How bold of you," he said, gripping the blade tightly as the runes flare to life.

He took a swing once she was in reach. The blade cut through her... and suddenly their surroundings changed, and they were lying in a cool stone room dampening their powers, fully healed.

Not exactly satisfying maybe, but better than the former foolish feast by far! Foxzilla seemed in much better spirits after the quick ruination of the silly giant bug, returning to a jaunty strut as some musical strands begin to emerge. Those familiar with the time period would recognize it as coming from M.C. Hammer... 'Can't Touch This'.

Theophantus looked around, poking his chest uneasily.

Outside, Shazmar announced Theophantus as the winner.

Vanankyte climbed to her feet and stretched. "Good fight." She grinned at him.

Theophantus stood up. "Ah, I see. It's over. Just got a little disoriented. Yes, good scrap indeed." He bowed.

Jenna resisted the urge to hurl things at Foxzilla.

Vanankyte headed for the exit to go back to the stadium proper as Shazmar prepared the next fight.

Theophantus follows her. "Should've focused more on powers, but you seemed adept enough at stopping them."

Vicky returned to watching the sideshow, wondering what the next event would be. Foxzilla tired of the strut soon enough, and the music faded to silence as the monster slipped into an unusual state for what's been seen so far... sleep. Little 'Z's floated upward from its head as it slumbered.

"To a point, I'm sure," Vanankyte said. "That's what some of the events really boil down to... managing to cancel out the other's powers sufficiently to force a physical fight. 

"I wasn't sure if I should've just gone for a melee fight or tried to magically slug it out. I am rather new to this..." He said sheepishly.

"Heh, for a minute there, I thought you were going to try to fuck me or something," Vanankyte said, chuckling.

While Foxzilla slept, something odd swirled in the shadows nearby, foretelling the arrival of something vile, something evil beyond measure, a menacing presence beyond anything hitherto known to mankind! A miniature version stumbled out of the shadows and blinked as it looks around, then ambled over to Foxzilla and curled up in the fluffy tail with a contented look.

"Well, not in front of a crowd, unless that's your thing," he said with a wink.

"Eh, what difference does it make, it's not like I'm really hiding anything as it is..." She glanced down at herself with a smirk.

"Well, I wasn't sure if you were giving a newcomer the benefit of the doubt, or trying to distract me," He said with a laugh.

"Well, the latter does work on occasion!" she said, grinning broadly.

He gave her a solid once-over. "I must admit, I can see why it would."

"Ah, screw this crowd, let's go off and make the hanky-panky."

"You must be able to read thoughts as well." He chuckled, following her.

"Mmm... yes, that too." They went off.

Jenna leaned against a pillar and watched the foxy fun.

Sindri had been watching the antics, wondering what on earth it's all about.

Fantasia didn't let them snooze too long, and Foxzilla looked positively puzzled to find this small thing curled up next to it. By the expression, it could mean that it wasn't sure whether the Baby Foxzilla was for eating or some other purpose. That became a moot point, though, as the ages-old security system kicked in and the little one woke and looked up at the larger with guileless eyes. "Mama?"

"Aw, how cute," Jenna said.

Nature and show biz being as they are, Foxzilla couldn't exactly _eat_ the thing now, and it snuffled curiously at it. The viewers were doubtless wondering, as did the thousands who first viewed it, where the _hell_ a baby was going to come from, but hey, that's what plot holes are for!


	13. Song of the Fox

More events occurred, days passed, people blew one another up, and people chatted and vaguely watched Fantasia's antics.

And then the illusion non-combat event opened up. The participants were teleported into their places and Shazmar described what the challenge would be this year. It was a contest of skill and creativity.

Fantasia wasn't keeping track of when the event she'd signed up for just ahead of the deadline was going to come up, so the sudden re-location came as a bit of a surprise. She grinned broadly as it happened, though, leaving the sideshow beyond the arena running on a pre-decided path for this particular happenstance while she turned to take a look around. Fun times to be had soon, she even knew what she wanted if it turned that way!

Win or lose, didn't really matter since the play was the thing and her appearance altered through carefully-planned use of illusion. Brilliant colors streaked through the heavier falling of hair at her head and shoulders, much like a rainbow and contrasting sharply against the stark, sleek bodysuit which clung to her. She drew out the one thing she'd been waiting for on this, a keyboard guitar, and hummed softly.

There were some others about, including Sedder, several elves and drow, a human or two, some miscellaneous species, and the kitsune Goldentail. Once Shazmar finished explaining the contest, he said, "You may begin."

The music began slowly at first, as did a soft light which emerged at her pawed feet, both maintaining a steady growth and upward spin to coil themselves tightly about her. She wasn't thinking about the progression any more than she was now paying attention to her competition, letting it flow as it might and drawing from the quiet well of her soul. Her voice as it joined was gentle, almost melancholy, matching the curl of light.

Ethereal threads of eye-searing hue mesh seamlessly with more subtle, subdued hints of color, thickening to tendrils blown by an unseen wind and twisting, entwining themselves about her. The song grew in urgency, signalling danger approaching, a reason for haste, but it continued at an unspoken pace which she set to it, seeming to hang on a cliff's edge as the light enfolded and ultimately became a cocoon to hide her.

Lights and colors appeared around the other competitors, images and patterns swirling around them. Sedder's illusions were extremely detailed and near-flawless, tiny dragons so precise that you could make out each scale. Goldentail clearly didn't have Sedder's pure skill, but ended up being distracted by what Fantasia was doing.

Appearances weren't always deceiving, for the cocoon of light was a cocoon in fact, the colors darkening by degrees until they appeared nothing more than a pulsing web thrumming to the slow and steady rhythm of the song which yet emerged. Inevitably, cracks appeared along its surface, minor at first and then cascading more rapidly even as the music followed along with it and light sprung from the cracks to dim the shroud further.

With a triumphant crescendo, the mass fell away to reveal nothing more than a confused, baffled, and rather homely bird of unknown type. It blinked in puzzlement at those around it, feathers ruffling to shed the faint clinging damp of its birth. The tune became more spry as it hopped from the improbably-large 'egg' and began to explore its world, at first on foot and then tentatively testing its awkward wings.

Fantasia smiled silently and unseen to herself, eyes closed as she needed not see any of it to allow it to progress as it must. So too had Gaia's children once been, strange creatures in an unfamiliar world... the first flutterings lead to flight, music taking a glorious turn as the bird discovers the sheer _joy_ of it all.

Sedder proceeded to make illusions of tiny dragons in mating flight in the air. Goldentail shook out her head, and as if newly inspired, radiant lights and images surround her, dazzling with golden fire that didn't burn and shining like a brilliant star.

Swooping, diving, rolling in the air, the music shared the emotion felt by Fantasia's creation, shifting its tone even as the bird began to change and grow. Small and agile, its wings grew broader to cast a deeper shadow on the ground beneath them, the aspect of a harmless bird transformed suddenly to that of an eagle. Beautiful and noble, it curved with majestic grace to survey all beneath which was its domain without question.

Others began to emerge and awaken from the corners of the world, though, darker things and others which chittered with the voice of steel, the Triat revealed at last to the soaring hunter above. For a time it merely watched as the danger unfolded, the music shifting to inspire unease, uncertainty. The darkness unfolded, leaving blight and diseased-looking ground in its wake.

Its competitor, of steel and light, began to build and shape a brilliant web of unspeakable beauty, something to bring tears of joy to the eyes. But the eagle saw more in it, music drawing attention to the very inflexibility and sterility of that web as an evil to rival that of the darker reflection.

Conflict inevitably emerges, the eagle blessed by the wind and sun striking against the corruptions which lay beneath it with talon and beak. The music shifted as the action quickened, determination and pride evident in each note as the raptor dove and swooped in dazzling maneuvers to strike at its foes again and again. They were not so readily defeated though, and the song became more sinister as the two seemed to retreat from sight.

The eagle, turning a blind eye to the world beneath it as its victory was clear, soared into the skies with a bright, bold, and brassy fanfare. A hint of mockery wended its way into the melody of Fantasia's voice, though. So high, so proud and mighty, and yet so very very blind. Beneath, shadow and silver merge, not immediately or without conflict, in fact in a swirl of chaotic and violent war.

Darkness was enfolded by the webs of the spider, trapped tight and struggling vainly, the song maintaining the thread of the eagle far above even as another opens to pursue the fury unleashed below. That tune shifted to a malevolent, tortured mockery, all sanity gone against in it and seeming discordant against the obliviously light theme. Madness and form merged, each twisting the other in untold ways.

And still the eagle flew unseeing, the music drew attention once more to the serene surety of the bird far above even as the darkness grew, festered, and threatened the very earth itself. The floor of the arena seemed nearly covered in the miasma spawned by the malignant entities before the eagle seemed to notice once more and seemed shocked. How could this happen? Had he not done his duty always?

The eagle soared, alarm writ large as it turned and eyed the growing darkness beneath it. What could be done? Only one way was known to it, there was nothing else that _could_ be done. Any other option was unthinkable! It dove on the darkness to rend with its claws, again and again, each time its image dividing to provide another of its ilk to act at its wing and strike alongside. 

First one, then two, and shortly there were dozens if not hundreds striking with great cries that seemed to call out to the heavens themselves. They fell as quickly as they multiplied, however, dragged into the webs of the spider or engulfed in the madness inspired of the darkness until only one yet remained, its crest and wings etched in silver. The way things always were, but was this the way intended?

Suddenly, other creatures emerged from all compass points, a bear, a tiger, a rat, the flickering form of a fox, all but a sampling of what came in answer to a sense of need. The eagle soared, but realized that he alone could not destroy that which threatened, but he had to try. A final dive was made, but the eagle was caught, dragged down into the oily shadows, charred and burned by its acidic touch until sinking silently beneath the tide.

Silence descended, a hush falling over the expectant features of the animals watching as a glow emerged from beneath the waves of vile shadow. Fire burst forth as from a volcano, spewing the ash which was all that remained of the once-proud eagle to the distant winds as Phoenix emerged and fluttered on great fiery wings to survey the ground below. It had foretold this, and a sacrifice had been made, so would it be.

A sad melody wended its way forth as the animals turned away with despair, trudging silently away and slowly fading from sight. The Phoenix watched them depart, knowing well what would have or could have been, then streaked upward. He stopped high above, then spun slowly, then faster, becoming a disc of flame which bore resemblance to the sun itself. Burning tears fell like rain from the skies.

Where they struck, the darkness was driven back for a moment and an eagle sprung whole from the ground beneath. Always had they walked their own path, but the purity of the flame was tasted by the final one to rise, he of the silver markings. He wasted no time with the darkness, instead gathering his brothers and then swooping around the arena to first find and then pluck the vanished animals from their hiding places.

No more could they afford to stand alone, blind and arrogant in the sky while the world passed unnoticed and uncared for beneath them. They had not the strength alone, but together? The song deepened and became more determined, resolute, echoing the iron will of the silver-marked eagle to unite not only his own but the others who had watched to the same goal. 

The bubbling darkness was almost a background as a whirlwind dance ensued as he works. Rat and bat and fox and bear and all the others, long had they waited and watched, doing whatever pleased them and wary of the predators which struck fearlessly and with great fury. Only slowly were they coaxed into joining the dance, the maelstrom growing stronger with each that does and becoming a mighty, triumphant howl as the last entered into it.

Storm and fury descended on the darkness, shredding the choking, evil tendrils and forcing them away. No, not destroying them, for how does one destroy a part of the world without hurting the world herself? Instead separating the spider and the creeping darkness, their melodies shifting suddenly to distinct patterns in the song. 

At the last, as silence suddenly fell and all else went still... the Phoenix looked down from above and smiled. Slowly the fiery entity faded from existence even as Fantasia allowed the illusion which concealed her to fade. Her expression was one of deep and quiet serenity, a smile curving her lips as she heard the final strains of song dim in her mind.

The audience proceeds to applaud, as did the other competitors. Goldentail stared silently and blinked for a moment.

Shazmar's voice came over the loudspeakers, "An excellent performance, most excellent. The winner for technical merit is Sedder, however, the winner for artistic merit and overall is Fantasia. Good efforts to all runners-up." He teleported them back out of the arena again.

Fantasia blinks at the announcement, not fully recognizing the import of it yet as she was still a bit fuzzy in the wake of performing. It felt good, really _really_ good to do that again, and she hadn't realized just how much she missed it. She grinned after a moment, though, snapping out of it and looking around.

"Um, wow," she remarked, clearly not yet returned to full speed ahead and damn the torpedoes mode.

"Wow, what _was_ that?" said a voice coming up from behind her. It was Goldentail, looking fairly wide-eyed and impressed.

Fantasia grinned, shaking out the brightly-colored mane of hair, "Just a little spin on an old story, or more appropriately I guess you'd call it an old prophecy mixed with what actually went down. Minus the details of course. And oh it was _good_ to do!"

She slung the instrument over her shoulder and wrapped her arms around herself as she shivered in delight.

"It certainly looked like it!" Goldentail said. "Completely distracted me from what I was trying to do... but it wasn't near as great as what you did anyway."

"Sorry," Fantasia grinned, arms dropping and swinging lightly, clapping between swings, "I wasn't even paying attention to anything else, kinda got wrapped up in the music as it unfolded. Wasn't even sure where it was going when I started out, it just..." She shrugged. "Kinda happened. Best jams are like that, though. Too bad I didn't see anyone else's stuff, I wonder if Shazmar sells DVDs?"

"Everyone just kind of stopped what they were doing midway through to stare at what you were doing," Goldentail said, snickering. "But yeah, there's a replay on the terminals and stuff."

"I love a good performance!" Fantasia replied brightly, clearly having gotten quite an energy boost out of doing it, then grinned. "Think I'll go see what I missed though, maybe get some ideas for some future fun. Hehe."

"I made a sunrise," Goldentail said sheepishly.

Still feeling exuberant, Fantasia grabbed Goldentail by the arm and coaxed her over toward a terminal, grinning. "C'mon, let's see and you can give me a replay of the important stuff. Always pays to have a native guide..." She snickered. "Well, unless your guide leads you into a bunch of wereskunks and gets hosed down."

Goldentail let herself get dragged along, giggling nervously, then said, "Wereskunks? Oh my."

"You would _not_ believe the stench." Fantasia smirked, taking a quick look over the terminal and poking about until she found what she's looking for to get a replay. "That's what ya get when you don't have a sense of humor or a set of fox paws to get out of the way though."

"I would say that wasn't an especially good guide, then," Goldentail observed. "So! Where ya from? Don't see many kitsune around here..."

Fantasia watched the display out of the corner of her eye, but left the greater part of her attention on her company. Years of watching TV while online made for lots of practice!

"Long ago in a galaxy far, far away," she intoned solemnly, then giggled. "Nah, not nearly so backwater as Tatooine, but definitely an out of the way Earth clone. Not too many foxes _there_ either."

"Oh. Well, that's a pity. But I suppose, hey, what would people do if we were all over the place? Oh, the fun we could have!" She giggled, bouncing around.

"All the more reason to do more than our share!" Fantasia grinned, agreeing with the sentiment completely. "You're the first I've seen since coming out this way, there a foxhole out there someplace that they're all hiding in? Though really, with all the fun to be had around here I'm surprised there aren't more right now."

Goldentail shook her head. "Well, there's some in the Wilderness of Wilderplane, maybe some on Daresa..."

"Hm, didn't see any while I was on Daresa," Fantasia remarked, "But then I wasn't exactly looking for any either. Smart ones tend to hide in the shadows anyway while ones like me are too dazzled by shiny things to be anything but flashy!" She laughed lightly and leaned up against the terminal, tilting her ears to Goldentail. "What's your story? Live here, or just passing through?"

"Oh, no no, Torn Elkandu's a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live here. Oh, you've probably never heard of the planet I'm from, anyway. Nobody around here has. Really."

Ooh, a mystery, even a small one, it perked Fantasia's whiskers noticeably as if sniffing the air for some hint.

"Where's that, then? You're probably right that I haven't, but up until recently I didn't even know any of this--" she gestured around with one arm. "--was even out here, other than maybe as a weaverling's fever dream!"

"Oooh, noplace important," Goldentail said, giggling and fluttering her eyelashes innocently, twirling her tails around playfully.

Fantasia smirked, recognizing bait when it's dangled out in front of her nose, but who besides another kitsune would know the proper way to do it to get _just_ the right twitch to it and snare her attention.

"Uh-huh," she snorted lightly, then reached out to poke Goldentail with one fingertip. "Give. I can tell you're just dying to, and I'd have to track you down if you didn't!"

Goldentail giggled lightly and said, "Okay, okay. I was born on a little out-of-the-way planet called... Serriya."

Fantasia screwed up her face in thought and hmmed, then shook her head, "Nope, haven't heard of it. What's it like?" Wouldn't hurt to know, maybe a place to check out sometime!

"Well, it's got a sun and a moon, just one and not ten of them or something... And there's all sorts of stuff like humans and beastmen and elves and dragons and shapeshifters and things. And there's these gods that go all over the place and do stuff..."

Fantasia's eyes glittered brightly at the description laid out, all the elements of a classic fantasy story... including a sun and moon to keep things in a normal frame to boot! "Gods, schmods." She chuckled. "Let em do what they want, but the rest... ohhh, that sounds _very_ foxy indeed!"

"Well, they're not _really_ gods, they aren't anymore powerful than most of these Elkandu, for the most part, but they've got some sort of weird relationship with the planet or something, I dunno."

"Like Gaia?" Fantasia asked, tilting her head curiously, then grinned. "Though it'd probably help to know Gaia was the primary god back where I'm from, linked to the earth, and gave all sorts of nifty abilities to her shapeshifting children. Something like that, or something else?"

Goldentail shrugged. "Well, there's like, Erensis, the time god... Sushelbee, the flower goddess... Scregor, the dragon god... Suzcecoz, the fire goddess... Felicia, the cat goddess... All sorts of em!"

"Wait, wait, wait!" Fantasia replied, puzzled, "Sushelbee, Scregor, Suzcecoz? I've been watching the events and I've seen all of them competing here!" She paused, ticking it off in her mind. "Earth, Illusion, Fire, I think."

Goldentail nodded. "Yup, some of 'em came here to compete. And.. and... there's Yaddir, the trickster.. Trixis, the goddess of happiness, Oanaska, the tree god..."

"Okay, that's just weird," Fantasia remarked, then giggled. "But then things generally are when you start talking about gods and whatnot. People are nothing if not strange about those. But about Serriya itself, what's it _like_? Sounds like all sorts of fascinating people and critters about, but is it more like Conan or Dragonlance? Something sci-fi?"

She was still amazed by the diversity she'd seen and looked at so far.

"Oh... Well, it's pretty primitive by most standards," Goldentail said. "Least the humans and elves are civilized, the beastmen go around rubbing sticks together to start fires and hitting things with clubs. But there's no spaceships or robots or anything."

"So, you have some villages and cities, complete with the ever-present and inescapable tavern scene," Fantasia mused, tips of her ears twitching even as her tail tip does. "And lots of stuff running around outside the walls to go poking around and seeing. That about right?" she finished inquiringly, gaze sharpening brightly on the other kitsune.

"Yup, pretty much!" she said. "And there's mages and warriors and rangers and thieves and all that business too."

"Sounds like the Fantasy Realm." Fantasia grinned. "But with even more room to run around in. Oh, I'm gonna have to go there! Way too much potential for fun to be missed, what with epic quests and bardic tales to unfold, and it'd probably make the gamer geeks back home green with envy!"

"Oh yes, it's a lot of fun, but most of the Elkandu ignore the place and don't really care what happens there, so they aren't all mucking around in it and stealing people's ice cream randomly."

"Stealing people's ice cream?!?" Fantasia asked indignantly.

She stifled a giggle at the memory of a few ninja-stolen treats not more than a few days before, and a gleaming halo appears over her head. Unfortunately, it had a tendency to rest on the tips of her ears and gives the impression it's being supported by horns.

Goldentail giggled. "Oh yes, you should definitely come and visit for a while! And I promise you, there are absolutely _no_ wereskunks, not a one."

Fantasia smirked. "No worries on that one, _some_ of us had the common sense to make a dive for it as soon as we saw what was coming, and the goofball that didn't seems to have gotten lost along the way. Some native guide!" She snorted, then grinned. "So where's Serriya from here? Definitely sounds like a place I wanna go, and _soon_."

"Oh, out there, somewhere," Goldentail said, waving a paw vaguely. "You can get there via the Nexus, or through the portal off deep in the gardens near the crescent-shaped fountain."

"Oh," Fantasia replied with some surprise. "I've seen the one in the gardens, even been through it, but figured it just went to Daresa. Didn't know its destination could be changed, but definitely makes it simple enough!"

She was tempted to scamper off and see to it, but didn't want to miss the rest of the competition and its crowds, plus she'd have to see if anyone else wanted to come along.

Goldentail giggled. "There's lots of portals in the gardens, silly. It's a convenient enough place to keep them out of plain sight, I suppose. Then there's the ones in the fire caves that go to the fiery places, and the ones on Frost Mountain that go to cold places, and the ones in the junkyard that go to unsavory places..."

Fantasia grinned and shrugged, though she's quick enough to squirrel away those bits of information for later use as there was never any telling what might come in handy sometime.

"I guess I've been kinda lazy," she admitted sheepishly, "Haven't been poking my nose into nearly enough since setting out from home. So used to things being at least _somewhat_ familiar instead of totally weird and flaky."

"Ooh, and there's portals down by the lake that go to Sea-Lake and Seventy Islands. But the portals underwater come out under the water there too. And there's one in the graveyard that goes to Mezulbryst, too. And one by the landing platform to Hasaris..."

Dutifully marking the locations as they were rattled off, one of them caught Fantasia's attention and she wrinkled her muzzle, "A portal in a graveyard? What's this Mezulbryst like? Sounds like all the others have some kinda relation to their destination, not sure I want to think what that means for _that_ one."

"Well, it's got no sun, and four moons, named Death, Famine, War, and Pestilence. And there's drow and demons and necromancers and undead there."

"Sounds delightful," Fantasia replied, her tone and general body language indicating anything but the truth in that, then she brightened. "Nope, I think Serriya's the next place to be when the competition's done. Have to see how a couple friends do in their events and hit up ol' Shazmar for my prize!"

The glitter in her eyes and the grin which emerged would be enough to make most sane folks run for the hills.

"Ooh. Whatcha gonna wish for?" Goldentail said, grinning.

Remembering the tweaking from not that long before, Fantasia clasped her hands behind her back and swayed thoughtfully, a deliberate uncertainty in her pose.

"Well, I dunno..." she replied, "It's kinda top-secret stuff, and something to have a bit of fun with."

"Oh reeeeallly now." Goldentail drawled.

Fantasia snickered, grinning brightly, "Well anyway, I figure since I'm already a shapeshifter by nature, it shouldn't be any big deal for him to just tack on a bit. I heard about ones who can change into _anything_ they want to! Can you _imagine_ the fun that could be had with that??"

Somewhere in the universe, on another planet entirely, someone was cringing in terror.

"Ooooh," Goldentail said, bouncing around excitedly. "That _does_ sound fun. Like those mages in the Changing event?"

Fantasia bounced a little in her excitement at the idea, the thing having sprung from out of nowhere and inspired her to sign up in the first place, and nodded.

"Yeah! Just like that! Imagine all the chaos that could be spread with a little smoke and mirrors, not to mention the look on someone's face when you end up looking just alike and mock em. Hehe!"

"Oh yes indeed!" Goldentail agreed. "I'd have never thought of that. Well, I dunno, I rather like myself the way I am."

"Well of course, you're a fox, what else needs to be said?" Fantasia replied matter-of-factly, and while there might be an overall facetious note to it there's also the innate superiority and surety of it that _came_ of being a fox where she came from. "Doesn't mean that you can't have a little bit of fun otherwise, though," she added, "And for me it's not like I don't already shapeshift anyway."

She blinked and looked at Goldentail curiously.

"Do you?" Fantasia asked. "Back home, we're foxes right enough, but we're born as a human or fox and then shapeshift through five different forms at a whim. I didn't even think how it works here."

Goldentail blinked at her. " _Five_ forms? Wow. Nope, not I, this is all I've got, and I'm happy for it." She giggled.

Fantasia grinned, returning to the slender natural oriental form, posing for a moment before continuing to the next transformation. Eyes and facial features change subtly toward the foxlike, and a fine, downy hint of white fur appears here and there. She passed through the next one, which Goldentail had already seen, sinking forward to all fours and becoming even closer to nature's intent but on a larger scale.

Kitsune in this intermediate form weren't nearly as impressive as the Garou in their Hispo, but a large hound-sized fox was nothing to sneer at either. The final change left her as nothing more than a perky, bright white floofball who darted forward and dashed around the other kitsune's feet merrily, yipping brightly.

"Wow, neat," Goldentail said. "And you say they're all like that where you come from?"

Animal forms weren't good for communication, not when the one you're looking to talk to might or might not understand the much more primitive patterns associated with the language. That in mind, Fantasia bounded back to the front and returned to the hybrid form, grinning, and nodded.

"Yup, all the shapeshifters have the five forms," Fantasia said. "Well, mostly, I think some of em lost one or two along the way, not sure."

Down at the arena, Shazmar announced the next match, this one for Void. The participants this time are Morin and a girl with black feathered wings.

"Ooh! Ooh!" Fantasia bounced again, grinning as she darted over for a better vantage point, not about to miss this match any more than she'd have missed her own. Pkay, well, she might have forgotten her own but Shazmar hadn't. She smirked as a few ideas passed through her head, tantalizing tidbits of entertainment to accompany and encourage, but she refrained.

Goldentail trailed along, leaning on a railing that existed solely to be leaned on. The match opened with crackling black lightning, thunderous storm clouds of magical nothingness, ethereal funnels, then finished up with a rift in reality that sucks the ariel in. Morin was announced the winner and teleported out.

Fantasia blink-blinked. "Well, that was certainly quick. Yeek. Though I guess that's what happens when you're dealing with destructive hocus-pocus. Still!"

"Wow, that was scary," Goldentail said. "You know one of them?"

"Yup!" Fantasia grinned brightly. "The winner. Now where did he get off to? Never can tell what he's going to get up to or hide behind..."

She went up on her toes, looking around for Morin. He came out of the recovery room. The ariel patted him on the back and went off.

Morin waved to them as he saw them approaching and said, "Man, as if one of you wasn't enough, what am I going to do with _two_?"

Fantasia laughed, hands on her hips as she looked over at Goldentail. "The question he really needs to be asking with tricksters around is whether he'll be able to keep us straight. Magic is so very foxy."

Goldentail giggled, her fur shimmering for a moment as she used an illusion to make it appear white instead of gold. She looks utterly innocent. Morin looked at them in exasperation. She giggled again and let the illusion drop.

Fantasia grinned and trotted over to give him a kiss on the cheek. "Congrats on the win, by the way. Knew ya could do it, hero. Speaking of..." The grin gleamed a bit brighter as she thought, looking over at Goldentail. "Whaddaya think, Goldie, Serriya ready for a Void mage to tag along too? Provided..." she paused and looked up at him with widened, liquid eyes and a faintly-quivering lip, "he'll agree to come along...?"

Morin looked at her and sighed fondly and said, "Oh, fine fine... as long as there aren't any wereskunks, and if there are any volcanos we are several miles away from them when they erupt, and we stay _above_ the the raging rivers and not in them."

"No wereskunks!" Fantasia replied, dispensing with the puppy eyes routine and grinning. "Already found that one out. Other than that, welllll..." She shrugged. "No telling till we get there, and really, what cozy tropical getaway is complete without an insane volcano god in the background anyway? Sheesh." She stuck her toungue out and delivered a playful raspberry at the idea.

"Oh, he's usually pretty benign. If he gets his regular sacrifices," Goldentail said lightly, winking.

"Seeeee?"

Fantasia pointed to Goldentail in support, the idea of getting back on the road soonish after the competition awfully compelling. It wasn't that she was a wanderer, per se, it was more that she was an experience junkie and would go to great lengths for a bit of fun.

"So it's all set then," she continued, "Wait for the competition to end, get door prizes, and go see the Wizard!"

"Okay, okay..." Morin said. "What about Thorn and Shenzel? Are they coming too?"

"Dunno," Fantasia replied, "I haven't seen em around lately, and definitely not since running across Goldie here a bit ago and finding out about it. Have you seen em at all?"

"Sure, they've been over on the west side of the Stadium avoiding the terrifying Foxzilla."

Fantasia blinked, then giggled. "Oh, I forgot about that, wonder how Foxy and mini-Foxy are doing?"

She'd learned interesting ways to combine her talents with the Glass Walker-built laptop, a real simple one making maintaining a simple routine without any real attention dead easy.

"C'mon you two, let's go see!" Fantasia said.

Goldentail followed along excitedly, bouncing around. Morin followed along trepidatiously, sighing slightly.

Foxzilla, unsupervised, had been making its rounds of the vending area and remained alertly on guard for any signs of the villainous monsters who would _dare_ invade its territory! Baby Foxzilla, likely to the amusement of those who have bothered watching, had bumbled along in the larger's footsteps and tried to be as impressive and scary, generally just managing to look ferociously cute... as intended.

Fantasia giggled at the sight, having deliberately set things to go in that general line while she was away as it wouldn't really be _active_ entertainment but it would at least amuse someone here and there.

Fantasia then walked on ahead to continue along the edge of the arena to look for Shenzel and Thorn. She did, however, pause for a moment with a grin to produce a bright pink tuft of cotton candy from nowhere and offer it to the little Foxzilla. Baby Foxzilla crooned in curiosity, snatches it, then munched happily as they continued on their way.

Some ways away, Thorn was sitting and eating a large tub of popcorn, while Shenzel was in wolf form and laying at her feet like a dog with her tongue lolling out.

Fantasia ambled over that way and perched against the nearest railing, "Shenzel, Thorn, like ya to meet Goldentail. Goldentail, yadayadayada." She chuckled, glancing over at the arena as Goldentail waved cheerfully at them. "So what've you two been up to?"

"Watching the matches," Thorn said. "And trying to stay out of trouble." She smirked at Fantasia.

"Trouble? Where?" Fantasia looked around quickly as though searching for some hint of danger, then grinned and turned back to them. "No such thing as trouble around here, just good clean fun! But what're ya gonna do when the competition's done? I heard about a nifty place that I'm itching to visit now called Serriya. Goldie here was telling me about it."

"Oh dear," Thorn said. "Serriya, eh? Well, it beats hanging around in the insane asylum that is Torn Elkandu, anyway."

"Oh it's not so insane, but it would be with two foxes in town after too long." Fantasia grinned, glad she'd gotten their agreement in the thing, always good to have friends along, and settled in to watch the next match curiously.


	14. Were-Eldar vs. Not-Chaos

Most of the Pairs had been pretty well pushovers for the most part, ripped apart by anyone with a modicum of skill, power, and/or weapons. But then Shazmar called for Sindri & Manasa vs. Tarna & Melaran, and teleported them in, wherever they might be hiding.

"Oh, here we go," Sindri said.

Tarna commented, "This should be... interesting."

Shazmar announced, "You may begin."

Melaran had been waiting, knowing the time would come soon enough, and appeared in full Swooping Hawk battle garb in the arena. He glanced aside to Tarna, Sight checking the weaves he'd set and woven between them, then turned his attention to their opponents.

Sindri adjusted his armor, looking at what the opposition has set up, and began work on a quick mana buffer. "This'll be fun," he said with a slightly snide tone.

Tarna was also armored up and had in hand the magical pink katana Dreamfeather, as per usual. She wasted no time in blinking over close behind Sindri and slashing at him with her sword.

"Gah!" He whipped around and hit her with a kinetic punch.

Tarna's blade struck him, but did minimal damage, however Sindri's attack sent her sprawling backwards.

Melaran chuckled softly to himself, a wisp of power emerging from him to bring a swirling field of raw mana into being around him even as the shimmering wings of his armor blur into motion. He leapt into the air, drawing sword and pistol, and landed nearby to aid in Tarna's attack.

Manasa's mind reached out toward Melaran, and he could feel her prying at him and trying to take control.

"Do hold still for a bit," Sindri said, attempting to hold Tarna immobile with a Catalysm-reinforced telekinetic field.

"You want a war?" Melaran grinned beneath his helm, disdaining the physical for the moment and unleashing his own mind to lash at his enemies. Control wasn't the intent, reducing them to quivering and mindless lumps of flesh was, as eerie light flickered.

Tarna wasn't doing so well, falling helpless under Sindri's magic. However, Manasa was a good deal stronger than he'd bargained for, seeming to take advantage of his attempts at magical attack to penetrate his defenses. No attack managed to come as he felt the pressure of the half-tepper psyker in his mind.

Forcing her out would be the first step, Melaran knew, setting the weave to do just that and preparing the next. Should he prove successful, he intended to tear a rip in the fabric of the ethereal and begin to draw in the power of the Storm.

Sindri smiled darkly as he saw his field work and began pulsing huge waves of raw mana into Tarna. "I always did like this part."

Melaran managed to hold her in a stalemate, unable to remove her but preventing her from exerting much control over him in the meantime at least. Sindri, however... Tarna writhed against his hold, shuddering for a moment but somehow managed to reverse what he was doing and turn it back on him. 

A massive wave of mana ripped through Sindri instead. Sindri tried his damnedest to slough it back into the Ethereal.

"Get out of my mind," Melaran snarled, trying once more to seal the breach in his shields and force her out. He would need only a moment of peace to rip the hole he needed...

Sindri collapsed to the ground, alive but stunned after the unexpected attack. Tarna slowly climbed to her feet again unsteadily.

Manasa approached Melaran and laid a hand on his armor. Normally, full blooded teppers required skin contact for their bonus, but Manasa was only a half-breed, and while she didn't get quite the same bonus, she didn't have quite the same restrictions either.

The world seemed to go blank for Melaran for a moment as she takes complete control. Tarna, however, was quick to act and attacked Manasa, causing her to tumble away and lose control again.

Sindri got up, somewhat pissed. He grabbed Tarna in a kinetic field and attempted to crush her into a pulp, fueling it as hard as he could with Catalysm.

The loss of sensation was disturbing for Melaran, and its return was greatly appreciated. He did not hesitate any longer than he had to, however, taking advantage of the opportunity Tarna had provided to rip violently at the Ethereal wall and try and bring the fury of the Eldritch Storm into being. A faint nimbus of energy surrounded his helm as anger began to rise.

Tarna was held tightly under Sindri's power, her own meager telekinetic ability unable to withstand the force of his. Manasa climbed to her feet again, attempting to return to her onslaught, clawing at Melaran's shields and threatening to break in again.

Sindri held his hand out toward Tarna, fingers in a clutching posture. He began closing them, and she could feel the field crushing in on her. He grinned wickedly.

Melaran smiled grimly, unseen, the feel of the energies emerging at least partially satisfactory for now. Flickering lights and the first glints of electrical discharge stirred the air, and he continued to draw more power in and turn it to his will... though at the moment his fury would be satisfied were it to be merely unleashed to shatter and destroy.

Tarna fought against Sindri's magic with her own telekinetic power, rather like propping a toothpick up against the garbage compactor closing in, but she did manage to delay the inevitable somewhat.

Manasa ripped into Melaran's shields, making doing something fairly urgent. The raw fury of the Eldritch Storm uncoiled, preparation sufficient even as Melaran's attention was drawn to holding once again against the mental attack. Raw destructive power exploded fully into being, striking at those it had been called against.

Sindri's face contorted into a snarl as Tarna resisted. He sharply closed his fist, focusing all his will on the field.

Sindri and Manasa were thrown back by the violent wave of energy as Melaran exploded in a burst of power surging wildly out of control. He managed to avoid killing Tarna in the process at least, though.

Melaran appeared alone in the recovery room moments later as the fight continued.

"Good grief...what was _that_?" Sindri wondered.

Manasa said, "Ow."

Tarna scrambled to her feet again, gasping for breath and shifting into the Ethereal Plane to prevent him from attacking her quite so easily again.

Sindri stood up, noting her shift. He began saturating the mana flow in the area she was in.

She came out of the Ethereal to try to make a hit and run attack on him, but stumbled for a moment and failed to re-enter properly after slashing at him ineffectively.

Sindri gave her a telekinetic fling, sending her straight up. Tarna soared into the air.. and hung there for a moment from the levitation powers of Dreamfeather. Even as Manasa was trying to attack her, she blinked back to directly in front of Sindri, stabbing with her sword, and this time striking him solidly.

"Nice... trick..." He groaned as he staggered back, keeping himself upright with a telekinetic field. He tried to reinforce the field to deflect the physical attacks, too.

Tarna didn't leave a moment to recover, however, blinking again behind him and driving her sword home in the blink of an eye. Sindri proceeded to join Melaran in the recovery room.

At least there was a handy screen in the recovery room where the arena was visible for during team and pair fights.

Melaran looked over at the new arrival with a smirk, having removed his helmet, then returned his attention to the screen. "That had to hurt," he remarked blandly.

Tarna and Manasa proceeded to fight, circling each other, holding one another at bay for several long minutes in a stalemate, even as Manasa fought at Tarna's mind.

"I only felt it for a moment. Wasn't expecting her to levitate," he replied, poking at where the blade wound would've been.

Melaran chuckled fondly, "Aye, she's a sneaky one at times. Tricky too."

But in the end, Manasa's mental ability proved stronger than Tarna's, and she broke through. The two of them appeared in the recovery room as well, and Shazmar declared Sindri and Manasa the winners.

Tarna said, "Well, that sucked."

Melaran turned away from the screen, smiling as he walked over to give her a hug. "No, you fought quite well. Far better than blowing yourself to hell and gone."

Sindri gave Manasa a hug. "Well done, love."

Manasa kissed Sindri.

"I didn't realize I was that good a telepath," Tarna said, "Well, to be fair, I'm hardly the strongest one around... and neither am I a tepper."

Sindri asked Melaran, "Yes, what _was_ that, the third gate of hell you opened?"

Tarna chuckles and said, "Just take that as a firm note on what _not_ to do in the future, dear."

"That would be the Eldritch Storm," Melaran replied, inclining his head to the victors as he turns around. "Though clearly I require far more practice at the newly-found ability."

Tarna turned and headed toward the door, stretching a bit.

Sindri smirked at the typical Eldar aloofness. "Indeed. I should've fed it back, but your better half was more my focus." He winked at him.

Melaran grinned, offered a quick nod to Sindri and Manasa, and turned to head off in that direction as well. His part in this competition was over, which was just as well all told as he wasn't fond of using power without a purpose. This particular match, at any rate. Although most of the other pairs could be handled easily enough by just shooting at them.

"Good luck to you both," Melaran said.

"And you," Sindri replied, and picked Manasa up and spun her around when they left. "You were marvelous, my dear!"

Manasa giggled and said, "Shall we go off and celebrate and relax, then?"

"Yes. Let us bask in the glory of victory!" he said with a big grin.


	15. Closing Ceremonies

The matches finished up, and Shazmar proceeded with the awards ceremony, announcing the winners, although they'd already be pretty obvious to anyone looking at the match record.

Bob had been keeping up on the passage of events, even as he'd gone about gently, carefully familiarizing Aviel with the way things really were. It was truly a unique perspective to look out from and he was sure that it'd take a bit of time for her to settle fully into. But he grinned, knowing full well that his brother had been wrong as usual.

"So, care to see how things are turning elsewhere?" he asked her.

"May as well finish and start things off with a bit of a laugh," he added, a bubbling mirth glittering in his eyes. "Ol' Shazmar's setting things up for the end of the run, may as well tweak a few noses."

Fantasia was almost sad as the competitions draw to a close, the energy put into Foxzilla and all the things that surrounded it slowly fading from existence. There was a bright point which brought a grin, though, the thought that there'd be another one in seven years... just enough time for her to turn things on their ear!

Vicky frowned thoughtfully as her own name was announced, though already knowing it. She really hadn't gone into this expecting or wishing anything from it, other than removing the possibility of Jami gaining. She really wasn't certain just what, if anything, she'd do with what she'd one. Time enough to think about it later.

Aviel was happy enough to go back for a bit and see what happened. Goldentail was happy enough to be heading back to Serriya soon, and although slightly disappointed at not winning anything, wasn't really surprised about that.

Bob made sure they had a nice, visible spot to watch the ending ceremonies from, wouldn't want their appearance to go unnoticed after all! Not that there were more than a couple who would even recognize him and know what _he_ was, but those few would have puzzlement of their own at seeing them together. Grand fun! And Kyriel, he smiled quietly, settling in comfortably to watch, good job kiddo.

Fantasia was properly flamboyant after letting Foxzilla fade away, cheerful and bubbly even more than usual in some ways. She was looking forward to what she was going to ask for with great glee... oh, the possibilities!

Shazmar announced the winners one by one and teleported them each in to put a medal around their neck, horn, eyestalk, or antlers. "A fine performance for everyone all around," Shazmar said. "I hope you will all join me in seven years, when I will be putting a grand new twist upon the competition." He winked mischievously. "But until then... Live." He faded away, and the lights in the arena dimmed, and the stadium went quiet.

"Well he certainly knows how to put on a show," Bob remarked into the quiet, looking around. "But one does wonder when the party begins. I mean, come now, it's a once every seven years event, that's _got_ to be cause for a full-out, no-holds-barred, barn-raising party! Mardi Gras meets Emperor's Day and throw in a bit of a Superbowl halftime show for good measure." He chuckled lightly, knowing the calm before a storm.

"Well, sure," Sedder said. "Harmony can transform into a pinata and--"

Never had Harmony disappeared faster. Sedder sniggered softly.

Azale bounced around saying, "Oh boy! More wishes to not spend!"

Bob grinned lazily, taking a look around again, then shrugging. "Hey, if that's the way things end, so it goes. Looks like everyone had a damn good time leading up to it, and plenty of surprises to go around for all."

Bob laughed lightly, bringing up borrowed memory of some of those surprises and the purpose behind them. Shazmar was such a sneaky twit, he mused, and just as readily grinned, liking the quirky and familiar god.

"Sides, parties around here always seem to turn into orgies," Sedder said. "And I'd really rather keep my pants on around this crowd." He smirked and glared at nobody in particular.

"Probably a wise choice!" Bob agreed laughingly, then grinned slyly over in Aviel's direction, "Wishes pursued, wishes granted, whaddaya think of how it turned out, kiddo? Looks like a few promising ones mixed in there with the rest of the odds and sods."

A lot of variety represented, that was for sure, even more than the diverse and combative people in his home... and just as nuts in their way.

Aviel commented wryly, "I don't doubt that a number of trivial and absurd things will be wished for in the near future," chuckling softly.

"Oh no doubt!" Bob grinned. "But then that's half the fun of it, isn't it? You don't think that Shazmar set all this up and then acts the way he does on accident, do you? Oh no, he's a crafty little bugger, that one, sly as a snake doesn't even begin to cover it. Act the fool and people are going to avoid using the gifts ya give em, except the weird ones who're just going to make you laugh anyway!"

Azale put in, "I can never think of anything worth bothering wishing for anyway. I'd generally just rather do stuff myself..."

"There's the spirit of it." Bob chuckled. "It's all fun and games, and let things sort themselves out as they will for the most part. Everyone had a grand old time, and now they can get back to doing..." He smirked and shook his head. "Whatever the hell they were doing in the first place, maybe having gained a bit of wisdom or self-confidence along the way. Wishes! Gods! Bah, who needs em!"

"Um..." Azale said. "Who else would run the universe, then?" He pondered for a moment and rambled, "I seem to remember there was this one time Sharina decided to backstab Jami and throw him out of the timeline, by, 'hacking into the mainframe of the universe' or something..." Azale pondered, then shrugged. "But then Shazmar showed up again and laughed at everyone who was panicking about it all and said he'd let her do that and fixed everything she'd screwed up along the way..."

"Well yeah, point," Bob conceded, still grinning. "Always gotta have one or two around to fix the major engineering failures, but for the most part..." He shrugged. "Let things fall where they may and enjoy the ride. Always amazing what a few stout-hearted individuals can stir up when confronted with problems, really ingenious and noteworthy even if they tend to grumble about those 'damn, useless gods' afterwards." He snickered.

Azale said, "Hell, the universe has been taken over so many times that people generally ended up just letting them do it and wait for them to get inevitably bored of it. That attitude didn't work very well in the recent war though."

"Nope, some are just too bloody stubborn and stupid to realize a losing proposition when they see it," Bob replied, "But there's where the stuff of heroes and legends comes into play! Striding out boldly, rushing hither and yon on quests of mind-boggling purpose, doing all the usual things that have to be done when the usual things just won't work. And then... just like dominoes, everything falls mysteriously into place."

People were filing out of the stadium slowly, heading back to wherever they came from and chatting and laughing a bit about the events. Zelen proceeded to pass by quietly, giving a long, odd look in the generation direction of Bob. And another long, odd look at Aviel.

Bob offered a wolfish grin in reply to the long look, his eyes narrowing at the local manifestation of the very power Aviel'd thrown off. Oh sure, there'd been wheels within wheels where Chaos had been concerned and removing it, but that didn't mean he liked them much even as he knew they were a necessary cog in the machine.

"Eh, let's get outta here," he remarked, looking over at Aviel with a quieter grin. "Time to get back to work."

Aviel nodded in agreement. Sedder and Azale waved cheerfully and disappeared, teleporting out to who knew where.

Goldentail, for one, was extremely eager about getting along. Shenzel was wondering just how she got dragged along on this all. Morin was perfectly happy to go wherever Fantasia went. Thorn just didn't have anything better to do.

Storm's a-brewin', Bob knew, more than one of them in fact, but he wasn't particularly concerned, in fact appearing quite cheerful as the two of them vanished back to the Warp and woof of another universe entirely. He envied Shazmar some of his kids, but all in all he had to admit that it just wouldn't be the same without the age-old challenges inherent to his own home.

Melaran, despite having had no real reason to attend or remain past the Pairs event, had done so nonetheless. Not for any particular love of spectacle, or hope of gleaning something useful from the combatants that came and went... but for the sheer energy and enjoyment Tarna seemed to derive of it.

As things start to clear out, though, Melaran grinned over at her. "Can we go now?"

He still wasn't sure just what was going on in Vicky's head right now as she stood quietly-observant nearby. No doubt she _was_ thinking about something, she always seemed to be no matter what, but he has noooo clue.

Fantasia, buoyed by it all and glad to be among newly-found friends, was more than ready to head out and go boldly where no fox has gone before!

Tarna chuckled and said, "Certainly."

She headed out of the stadium back into Torn Elkandu again, narrowly avoiding getting run over by a pair of foxes, a panther, a wolf, and a hapless half-elf yelling, "Hey, wait for me!"

Melaran chuckled in reply and headed out as well, though not without a last peculiar look back to where Bob had been and the woman who had caused such an initial flurry of consternation. Clearly something had been done, but in realms far above him and he shrugged as he continued on. He snickered as he ducked aside before the rampaging fox... things, then just shook his head and walked onward in her wake.

Vicky, analyzing the multitude of paths that were open to her, an unheard-of experience for one of her line in truth, smiled quietly and trailed along after Melaran and Tarna. There would be time enough later to choose another path. This one would suit well for now and allow an opportunity to learn along the way. At least the redshirts could now return to their normal run of fun and games without fear of decimation!

Fantasia laughed brightly, looking over her shoulder and nearly bouncing into the tall Eldar male who was thankfully quick enough on his feet. She spared him only a glance, then bounded onward with a light call of, "Time waits for no fox, hurry it up!"


End file.
